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21 


LIVES  AND  WORKS 


Civil  and  Military  Engineers 


AMERICA. 


BY 

CHARLES  B.  STUART,  C.  E., 

AUTHOR  OF   "NAVAL  DRY  DOCKS  Of  THE  TTNITED  STATES,"    "NAVAL  AND  MAIL  STEAMERS  OF  THK   USITKIJ 

STATES;"  LATB  ENOINEER-IN-CHTEF  OF  THE  r.  s.  NAVY,  AND  STATE  ENGINEER  AND 

SURVEYOR  OF  NEW  YORK,  ETC.,  ETC. 


NEW   YOKE: 
D.   VAN    NOSTRAND,   PUBLISHER, 

23  MURRAY  AND  27  WARREN  STREET. 

1871. 


GIBEERIIW 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1871,  by 

CHARLES  B    STUART, 
in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


1    1  '57 

58 

Engineering 
Library 


PREFACE. 


To  commemorate  the  lives  of  American  citizens  emi- 
nent in  the  profession  of  engineering,  and  who  are  no  less 
illustrious  for  their  virtues  and  patriotism,  this  work  is 
designed. 

The  object  of  the  author  has  been  to  briefly  portray  the 
lives  of  pioneer  American  Engineers,  and  to  collect  some 
of  the  reminiscences  of  the  earlier  works  of  engineering  of 
the  country,  with  which  their  names  are  identified. 

The  description  of  the  works  alluded  to  in  this  volume 
is  necessarily  general  in  its  character,  and  embraces  less 
of  detail  than  it  would  were  it  intended  for  professional 
reading  alone. 

Few  circumstances  have  contributed  so  much  to  pro- 
mote the  commerce  and  great  prosperity  of  the  States  as 
our  system  of  internal  improvements,  for  which  we  are 
largely  indebted  to  the  skill,  foresight,  and  integrity  of  the 
Civil  Engineer,  and  there  is  no  profession  to  whom,  in  this 
country,  less  public  justice  has  been  accorded. 

In  the  arrangement  of  the  several  subjects,  reference  is 
had  to  their  succession  in  time,  commencing  with  those 

M8S7S72 


4  PREFACE. 

who  were  most  conspicuously  identified  with  our  first 
public  improvements,  and  noting  some  of  the  most  prom- 
inent men  and  works  at  various  periods,  down  to  recent 
dates. 

Brevity,  and  fidelity  of  statement,  has  been  his  aim 
rather  than  literary  style  or  eloquence  of  description. 

In  the  limit  of  time  embraced  he  is  conscious  of  having 
included  but  a  few  only  of  those  whose  lives  and  labors 
deserve  to  be  more  fitly  and  fully  recorded  than  he  is  able 
to  do.  But  the  aid  and  encouragement  that  has  been 
tendered  in  behalf  of  the  undertaking  by  the  most  promi- 
nent Engineers  in  every  State  of  the  Union,  in  the  collec- 
tion, not  only  of  information  embodied  in  the  following 
pages,  but  of  Engineers  for  whose  biographies  he  is  col- 
lecting material,  encourages  the  hope  that,  as  intervals  of 
time  can  be  had  from  active  professional  engagements, 
other  volumes  will  succeed  this,  until  some  slight  degree 
of  justice  shall  have  been  done  to  other  deserving  men  of 
the  profession. 

In  executing  the  design,  on  all  occasions  of  doubt  and 
uncertainty  resort  has  been  made  to  the  best  sources  for 
information  to  which  access  could  be  had,  and  no  dili- 
gence or  research  has  been  neglected  to  make  the  work 
complete.  If  errors  are  found  to  exist,  the  author  would 
feel  grateful  to  those  who  might  direct  his  attention  to 
them,  that  corrections  may  be  made  in  future  editions. 

In  a  work  of  this  kind  much,  from  its  nature,  must  be 
compilation,  and  to  those  of  whose  previous  labors  the 


PREFACE.  5 

author  has  availed  himself  he  gratefully  acknowledges  his 
obligations. 

The  author  desires  also  to  acknowledge  the  gratification 
he  has  derived  from  the  many  encouraging  letters  he  has 
received,  and  the  assistance  which  the  numerous  voluntary 
contributions  of  valuable  information  and  important  data 
have  afforded  him  in  the  preparation  of  this  work. 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


1.  NIAGABA  KAILWAY  SUSPENSION  BRIDGE face  title-page. 

2.  FIRST  AMERICAN  STEAMBOAT,  1786 face  page  20 

3.  PORTRAIT  OF  JAMES  GEDDES "      "    36 

4.  PORTRAIT  OF  BENJAMIN  WRIGHT "      "    48 

5.  FIRST  AMERICAN  CANAL  BOAT page  58 

6.  DEEP  ROCK  CUTTING  AT  LOCKPORT "    61 

7.  VIEW  OF  THE  AQUEDUCT  AT  LITTLE  FALLS "    63 

8.  PORTRAIT  OF  CANVASS  WHITE* face  page  74 

9.  VIEW  OF  THE  AQUEDUCT  AT  ROCHESTER page  97 

10.  COMBINED  LOCKS  AT  LOCKPORT "  114 

11.  PORTRAIT  OF  GRIDLEY  BRYANT face  page  119 

12.  HENRY  CLAY'S  FIRST  RAILROAD  RIDE page  138 

13.  PORTRAIT  OF  JESSE  L.  WILLIAMS  * face  page  141 

14.  PORTRAIT  OF  CAPTAIN  JOHN  CHILDE  * "      «    177 

15.  PORTRAIT  OF  MAJOR  DAVID  BATES  DOUGLAS "      "199 

16.  CARROLLTON  VIADUCT ., page  226 

17.  FIRST  AMERICAN  LOCOMOTIVE "    233 

18.  FIRST  RAILROAD  PASSENGER  CAR "    236 

19.  PORTRAIT  OF  BENJAMIN  H.  LATROBE face  page  243 

20.  PORTRAIT  OF  COLONEL  CHARLES  ELLET,  JB "      "    257 

21.  FAIRMOUNT  BRIDGE page  268 

22.  ^LLET'S  BASKET  RIDE  OVER  NIAGARA  RIVER "    274 

23.  CINCINNATI  SUSPENSION  BRIDGE «    315 

24.  EAST  RIVER  SUSPENSION  BRIDGE..  "    322 


*  Engraved  for  this  work,  1859. 
7 


CONTENTS. 


MAJOB  ANDREW  ELLICOTT, 

Surveyor-General  of  the  United  States. 

SURVEYING  BOUNDARY  LINES  BETWEEN  THE  STATES  AND  TERRITORIES. — 
COMMISSIONER  TO  LOCATE  WESTERN  AND  NORTHERN  BOUNDARY  OF  PENN- 
SYLVANIA.— GEOGRAPHER  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES. — WESTERN  BOUNDARY 
OF  NEW  YORK. — FIRST  ACTUAL  MEASUREMENT  OF  NIAGARA  FALLS. — SUR- 
VEY OF  THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA  AND*  WASHINGTON  CITY. — BOUN- 
DARY LINE  BETWEEN  THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  THE  SPANISH  POSSESSIONS. 

— SURVEYOR-GENERAL  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. — LONGITUDE  FROM  WASH- 
INGTON.— SELF-TAUGHT  ASTRONOMER. — COMMISSIONER  OF  INTERNAL  IM- 
PROVEMENTS OF  PENNSYLVANIA. — NORTHERN  BOUNDARY  OF  GEORGIA. — 
PROFESSOR  OF  MATHEMATICS  IN  THE  MILITARY  ACADEMY  AT  WEST  POINT. 
Pages  17-35. 

JAMES  GEDDES, 

Surveyor   and  Civil  Engineer. 

ENGINEER  ON  ERIE  CANAL. — ENGINEER  OF  CHAMPLAIN  CANAL. — ENGINEER 
OF  OHIO  CANALS. — REPORT  OF  STATE  COMMISSIONERS. — SURVEYOR  FOR  A 
CANAL  IN  THE  STATE  OF  MAINE. — ENGINEER  OF  LOCATION  OF  THE  CHESA- 
PEAKE AND  OHIO  CANAL. — ENGINEER  ON  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  STATE 
CANALS.  Pages  36-41. 

BENJAMIN  WBIGHT, 

Surveyor  and  Civil  Engineer. 

LAND  SURVEYING. — FIRST  WORK  AS  A  CIVIL  ENGINEER. — SURVEY  OF  THE  MO- 
HAWK RIVER. — APPOINTED  ENGINEER  OF  THE  MIDDLE  SECTION  OF  THF 


10  CONTENTS. 

ERIE  CANAL. — DIMENSIONS  AND  ESTIMATED  COST  OF  ERIE  CANAL. — GROUND 

FIRST     BROKEN. COMPLETION     OF    THE     MlDDLE     SECTION. FlRST     CANAL 

BOAT. — SURVEYS  AND  LOCATION  OF  WESTERN  AND  EASTERN  SECTIONS  OF 
ERIE  CANAL. — MIDDLE  SECTION  NAVIGABLE. — THE  AQUEDUCT  OVER  THE 
MOHAWK  RIVER. — THE  COMPLETION  OF  THE  ERIE  CANAL. — THE  CELEBRA- 
TION.— JUDGE  WRIGHT  APPOINTED  CONSULTING  ENGINEER  ON  THE  FARM- 
INGTON  CANAL,  AND  ON  THE  BLACKSTONE  CANAL. — CONSULTING  ENGINEER 
ON  CHESAPEAKE  AND  DELAWARE  CANAL. — CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF  JAMES 
RIVER  AND  OHIO  CANAL  AND  OF  THE  CHESAPEAKE  AND  DELAWARE  CANAL. 
— CONSULTING  ENGINEER  ON  THE  DELAWARE  AND  HUDSON  CANAL. — CHIEF 
ENGINEER  OF  THE  CHESAPEAKE  AND  OHIO  CANAL. — CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF 
THE  HARLEM  RAILROAD. — CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF  THE  ST.  LAWRENCE  SHIP 
CANAL. — CONSULTING  ENGINEER  OF  THE  WELLAND  CANAL. — APPOINTED 
BY  GOVERNOR  MARCY  TO  SURVEY  THE  ROUTE  FOR  THE  NEW  YORK  AND 
ERIE  RAILROAD. — CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF  THE  TIOGA  AND  CHEMUNG  RAIL- 
ROAD.— EXAMINING  A  CANAL  ROUTE  FROM  CHICAGO  TO  THE  ILLINOIS 
RIVER. — IN  CHARGE  OF  THE  PUBLIC  WORKS  OF  VIRGINIA.  Pages  48- 
73. 

CANY  ASS  WHITE, 

Civil  Engineer. 

EMPLOYED  AS  ASSISTANT  ENGINEER  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. — HE  VISITS  ENG- 
LAND TO  EXAMINE  ITS  PUBLIC  WORKS. DISCOVERS  HYDRAULIC  CEMENT. 

— ENGINEER  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL.  —APPOINTED  CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF  THE 
UNION  CANAL  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. — CONSULTING  ENGINEER  OF  THE  SCHUYL- 
KILL  NAVIGATION  COMPANY,  AND  OF  THE  DELAWARE  AND  CHESAPEAKE 
CANAL. — ENGINEER  OF  THE  WINDSOR  LOCKS,  CONNECTICUT  RIVER,  AND 
CONSULTING  ENGINEER  OF  THE  FARMINGTON  CANAL. — CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF 
THE  LEHIGH  CANAL,  AND  OF  THE  DELAWARE  AND  RARITAN  CANAL.  Pages 
74-90. 

DAVID  STANHOPE  BATES, 

Surveyor  and.  Civil  Engineer. 

SURVEYS  LAND. — SUPERINTENDENT  OF  IRON  WORKS. — ROCHESTER  AQUE- 
DUCT.— ITS  COMPLETION. — APPOINTED  CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF  THE  OHIO 
CANALS. — REPORT  TO  THE  COMMISSIONERS. — SURVEYS  AND  LOCATION  OF 


CONTENTS.  11 

CANAL  LINES. — APPOINTED  CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF  THE  LOUISVILLE  AND 
PORTLAND  CANAL. — IN  CHARGE  OF  THE  SURVEYS  ON  THE  CHENANGO 
CANAL. — SURVEYS  GENESEE  VALLEY  CANAL. — SURVEYS  ROUTE  FOR  RAIL- 
ROAD FROM  CANANDAIGUA  TO  ROCHESTER. — ENGINEER  OF  THE  NIAGARA  RIVER 
HYDRAULIC  COMPANY. — APPOINTED  CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF  THE  STATE  OF 
MICHIGAN.  Pages  90-108. 

NATHAN  S.  ROBERTS, 

Surveyor  and  Civil  Engineer. 

CLEARING  LAND  AND  SURVEYING. — FIRST  WORK  AS  A  CIVIL  ENGINEER. — 
TAKES  CHARGE  OF  THE  LOCKPORT  LOCKS. — THEIR  COMPLETION. — CELE- 
BRATION OF  THE  EVENT. — COMPLETION  OF  THE  WESTERN  SECTION  OF 
ERIE  CANAL. — APPOINTED  CONSULTING  ENGINEER  OF  CHESAPEAKE  AND 
DELAWARE  CANAL. — SURVEYS  A  ROUTE  FOR  SHIP  CANAL  AROUND 
NIAGARA  FALLS. — REPORT  ON  SUPPLYING  THE  SUMMIT  OF  CHENANGO 
CANAL  WITH  WATER. — APPOINTMENT  FROM  THE  SECRETARY  OF  WAR. — 
CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  CANAL. — MEMBER  OF  THE  BOARD 
OF  ENGINEERS  ON  THE  CHESAPEAKE  AND  OHIO  CANAL. — CHIEF  ENGINEER 
OF  THE  GOVERNMENT,  IMPROVING  THE  NAVIGATION  OF  THE  TENNESSEE 
RIVER.— PUBLIC  HONORS  IN  ALABAMA. — EMPLOYED  BY  THE  STATE  OF 
NEW  YORK  TO  MAKE  SURVEYS  FOR  THE  ENLARGEMENT  OF  THE  ERIE 
CANAL. — REBUILDING  THE  ROCHESTER  AQUEDUCT  AND '^  THE  COMBINED 
LOCKS. — RETIREMENT  FROM  PROFESSIONAL  LIFE.  Pages  109-118. 

GRIDLEY  BRYANT, 

Civil  Engineer. 

ENGINEER  OF  THE  FIRST  RAILROAD  IN  AMERICA. — THE  QUINCY  RAILROAD. — 
SUIT  OF  Ross  WINANS  vs.  THE  NEW  YORK  AND  ERIE  RAILROAD. — FIRST 
PRACTICAL  EIGHT  WHEEL  CAR. — CONSTRUCTION  OF  IMPORTANT  WORKS. — 
DEFENCES  OF  THE  HARBOR  OF  BOSTON. — LAST  YEARS  OF  HIS  LIFE. 
Pages  119-131. 

GENERAL  JOSEPH  G.  SWIFT, 

Civil  and  Military  Engineer. 

FIRST  GRADUATE  AT  WEST  POINT. — ENGINEER  OFFICER. — HARBOR  DE- 
FENCES.— CHIEF  OF  ENGINEER  CORPS. — SUPERINTENDENT  OF  MILITARY 


12  CONTENTS. 

ACADEMY. — CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF  THE  ARMY. — DEFENCE  OF  NEW  YORK 
CITY. — RESIGNATION. — SURVEYOR  OF  THE  PORT  OF  NEW  YORK. — CHIEF 
ENGINEER  BALTIMORE  AND  SUSQUEHANNA  RAILROAD. — SUPERINTENDENT 
OF  HARBOR  IMPROVEMENTS. — CONSTRUCTION  OF  NEW  ORLEANS  AND 
LAKE  PONCHARTRAIN  RAILROAD. — CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF  THE  HARLEM 
RAILROAD.  Pages  132-140. 

JESSE  L.  WILLIAMS, 

Civil  Engineer. 

CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF  WABASH  AND  ERIE  CANAL. — STATE  ENGINEER  OF  INDIANA. 
— MEMBER  OF  BOARD  OF  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS. — APPOINTED  CHIEF 
ENGINEER  OF  THE  WABASH  AND  ERIE  CANAL. — CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF  THE 
FORT  WAYNE  AND  CHICAGO  RAILROAD. — GOVERNMENT  DIRECTOR  ON  THE 
UNION  PACIFIC  RAILROAD. — EXPLORING  THE  ROUTE  OVER  THE  MOUNTAINS. — 
INTERESTING  LETTERS. — SPECIAL  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  UNION  PACIFIC 
RAILROAD. — COST  OF  ITS  CONSTRUCTION. — APPOINTED  RECEIVER  OF  THE 
GRAND  RAPIDS  AND  INDIANA  RAILROAD.  Pages  141-169. 

COLONEL  WILLIAM  McKEE, 

Civil  and  Military  Engineer. 

CADET  AT  MILITARY  ACADEMY. — LIEUTENANT  OF  ENGINEERS. — REPAIRS  OF 
FORTS. — MISSION  TO  FRANCE  AND  BELGIUM. — RESIGNATION  AS  UNITED 
STATES  ENGINEER. — APPOINTED  SURVEYOR  GENERAL  OF  ILLINOIS,  MISSOURI, 
AND  ARKANSAS.  Pages  170-lt2. 

SAMUEL  H.  KNEASS, 

Civil  Engineer. 

CIVIL  ENGINEERING. — SURVEY  OF  CHESAPEAKE  AND  DELAWARE  CANAL. — 
VISITS  PUBLIC  WORKS  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. — PRINCIPAL  ASSISTANT  ENGI- 
NEER PENNSYLVANIA  CANAL. — CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF  THE  MINE  HILL  AND 

SCHUYLKILL  HAVEN     RAILROAD. CHIEF    ENGINEER    OF   THE   PHILADELPHIA 

AND  TRENTON  RAILROAD. — ENGINEER  OF  THE  PHILADELPHIA  AND  WILMING- 
TON RAILROAD. — DELAWARE  AND  SCHUYLKILL  CANAL. — SURVEY  OF  RAILROAD 
ROUTES  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. — ENGINEER  PENNSYLVANIA  CENTRAL  RAIL- 


CONTENTS.  13 

ROAD,  AND  OF  THE  NORTHERN    NEW  YORK    RAILROAD. ClTY  ENGINEER  OF 

PHILADELPHIA.     Pages  173-176. 

CAPTAIN  JOHN  CHILDE, 

Civil  ana  Military  Engineer. 

WEST  POINT  CADET. — OFFICER  OF  UNITED  STATES  ARMY. — DUTIES  AT  FORT- 
RESS MONROE  AND  SPRINGFIELD  ARMORY. — CIVIL  ENGINEERING. — ASSIST- 
ANT ENGINEER  YORK  AND  WRIGHTS VILLE  RAILROAD,  AND  THE  WESTERN 
RAILROAD  OF  MASSACHUSETTS. — CHIEF  ENGINEER  TROY  AND  ALBANY 
RAILROAD,  AND  OF  THE  CONNECTICUT  RIVER  RAILROAD. — CONSULTING  ENGI- 
NEER OF  IMPORTANT  PUBLIC  WORKS. — CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF  THE  CLEVE- 
LAND, COLUMBUS,  AND  CINCINNATI  RAILROAD. — CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF  THE 
MOBILE  AND  OHIO  RAILROAD. — CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF  THE  TENNESSEE  AND 
ALABAMA  RAILROAD,  AND  THE  NEW  ORLEANS  AND  OHIO  RAILROAD. — MEM- 
BER OF  BOARD  OF  ENGINEERS  FOR  THE  IMPROVEMENT  OF  THE  ST.  LAWRENCE 
RIVER  AND  THE  HARBOR  OF  MONTREAL.  Pages  177-194. 

FKEDERICK  HARBACH, 

Civil  Engineer. 

ASSISTANT  ENGINEER. — APPOINTED  CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF  THE  HARTFORD  AND 
SPRINGFIELD  RAILROAD,  AND  OF  THE  PITTSFIELD  AND  NORTH,  ADAMS  RAIL- 
ROAD.— CONTRACTOR  ON  THE  CLEVELAND,  COLUMBUS,  AND  CINCINNATI  RAIL- 
ROAD.— CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF  THE  MICHIGAN  SOUTHERN  AND  NORTHERN 
INDIANA  RAILROAD. — CONTRACTOR  ON  THE  CLEVELAND,  PAINESVILLE  AND 

ASHTABULA  RAILROAD.       PagCS   195-198. 

MAJOR  DAVID  BATES  DOUGLAS, 

Civil  ana  Military  Engineer. 

APPOINTMENT  IN  UNITED  STATES  ENGINEER  CORPS. — SIEGE  OF  FORT  ERIE. — 
HARBOR  DEFENCES. — PROFESSOR  AT  WEST  POINT. — CIVIL  ENGINEERING. — 
CHIEF  ENGINEER  MORRIS  CANAL. — COMPLETION  OF  MONTVILLE  PLANES. — 
PENNSYLVANIA  RAILROAD. — PHILADELPHIA  AND  MORRISTOWN  RAILROAD. — 
PROFESSOR  IN  THE  NEW  YORK  UNIVERSITY. — CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF  THE 
CROTON  WATER  WORKS. — GREENWOOD  CEMETERY. — PRESIDENT  OF  KEN- 


14  CONTENTS. 

/ 

YON  COLLEGE. — ALBANY  WATER  WORKS. — CEMETERIES  AT  ALBANY  AND 
QUEBEC. — BROOKLYN  WATER  WORKS  AND  DRAINAGE. — NEW  BRIGHTON 
ASSOCIATION. — PROFESSOR  AT  HOBART  COLLEGE.  Pages  199-221. 

JONATHAN  KNIGHT, 

Surveyor  and  Civil  Engineer. 

SURVEYING  LAND. — CIVIL  ENGINEERING. — SURVEYS  FOR  BALTIMORE  AND 
OHIO  RAILROAD. — ITS  EARLY  HISTORY. — FIRST  AMERICAN  LOCOMOTIVE. — 
PETER  COOPER  ITS  BUILDER  AND  ENGINEER. — FIRST  RAILROAD  PASSENGER 
CAR. — APPOINTED  THE  FIRST  CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF  THE  BALTIMORE  AND 
OHIO  RAILROAD. — His  ANNUAL  REPORTS. — His  RESIGNATION. — ACTS  AS 
CONSULTING  ENGINEER  ON  VARIOUS  PUBLIC  WORKS. — His  RETIREMENT 
FROM  PROFESSIONAL  DUTIES.  Pages  222-242. 

BENJAMIN  H.  LATKOBE, 

Civil  Engineer. 

ENTERS  THE  SERVICE  OF  THE  BALTIMORE  AND  OHIO  RAILROAD  COMPANY. — 
ASSISTANT  ENGINEER  ON  WASHINGTON  BRANCH  RAILROAD. — CHIEF  ENGI- 
NEER OF  BALTIMORE  AND  PORT  DEPOSIT  RAILROAD. — ENGINEER  OF  LOCA- 
TION AND  CONSTRUCTION  OF  BALTIMORE  AND  OHIO  RAILROAD. — ABLE 
REPORTS. — TUNNELS. — VIADUCTS. — CONSULTING  ENGINEER  ON  VARIOUS 
RAILROADS. — APPOINTED  CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF  NORTH-WESTERN  AND  VIR- 
GINIA RAILROAD. — CONSULTING  ENGINEER  OF  THE  PHILADELPHIA,  WIL- 
MINGTON, AND  BALTIMORE  RAILROAD. — BRIDGE  OVER  THE  SUSQUEHANNA 
RIVER. — CONSULTING  ENGINEER  ON  NORTH  MISSOURI  RAILROAD. — CON- 
SULTING ENGINEER  ON  HOOSAC  TUNNEL. — APPOINTED  ON  BOARD  OF  ENGI- 
NEERS OF  THE  EAST  RIVER  SUSPENSION  BRIDGE. — PRESIDENT  AND  ENGI- 
NEER OF  THE  PITTSBURGH  AND  CONNELSVILLE  RAILROAD. — PUBLIC  WORKS, 
FROM  THE  CHES^>EAKE  TO  THE  OHIO.  Pages  243-256. 
I 

COLONEL  CHAELES  ELLET,  JR., 

Civil  ana  Military  Engineer. 

ASSISTANT  ENGINEER  ON  CHESAPEAKE  AND  OHIO  CANAL. — VISITS  EUROPE  TO 
INSPECT  PUBLIC  WORKS. — ENGAGED  ON  SURVEYS  FOR  THE  LOCATION  OF 


CONTENTS.  15 

THE  NEW  YORK  AND  ERIE  RAILROAD. — APPOINTED  CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF 
JAMES  RIVER  AND  KANAWHA  CANAL. — FAIRMOUNT  BRIDGE. — CHOSEN 
PRESIDENT  OF  THE  SCHDYLKILL  NAVIGATION  COMPANY. — ENGINEER  AND 
CONTRACTOR  OF  NIAGARA  SUSPENSION  BRIDGE. — ELLET'S  BASKET  RIDE 
OVER  THE  NIAGARA  RIVER. — COMPLETION  OF  CARRIAGE  BRIDGE. — WHEEL- 
ING SUSPENSION  BRIDGE. — APPOINTED  CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF  THE  HEMPFIELD 
RAILROAD. — REPORT  ON  THE  OHIO  AND  MISSISSIPPI  RIVERS. — APPOINTED 
CHIEF  ENGINEER  OF  THE  CENTRAL  VIRGINIA  RAILROAD. — SURVEY  OF  THE 
GREAT  KANAWHA. — APPOINTED  COLONEL  OF  RAM  FLEET  ON  THE  MISSIS- 
SIPPI.— BATTLE  OF  MEMPHIS.— ELLET'S  DEATH. — His  CHARACTER. — His 
SONS.  Pages  257-285. 

SAMUEL  FOEKEB, 

Surveyor  ana,  Civil  Engineer. 

APPOINTED  SURVEYOR  OF  THE  VIRGINIA  MILITARY  DISTRICT  OF  OHIO. — FIRST 
ATTEMPT  AT  CIVIL  ENGINEERING. — ASSISTANT  ENGINEER. — RESIDENT  ENGI- 
NEER ON  THE  MlAMI  AND  ERIE  CANAL. APPOINTED  MEMBER  OF  THE  BOARD 

OF  PUBLIC  WORKS. — APPOINTED  BY  THE  STATE  OF  INDIANA  CONSULTING 
ENGINEER — SURVEYS  FOR  LOCATION  OF  THE  OHIO  CENTRAL  RAILROAD. — 
EXCELS  AS  a  LOCATING  ENGINEER. — LOCATES  SEVERAL  TURNPIKES. — CON- 
TRACTOR ON  THE  WABASH  CANAL,  AND  ON  THE  PACIFIC  RAILROAD  OF 
MISSOURI. — MEMBER  OF  THE  BOARD  OF  CANAL  COMMISSIONERS  AND  OF  THE 
BOARD  OF  PUBLIC  WORKS. — CONSULTING  ENGINEER.  Pages  286-292. 

WILLIAM  STUAKT  WATSON, 

Civil  Engineer. 

ASSISTANT  ENGINEER  ON  THE  NEW  YORK  STATE  CANALS,  THE  BUFFALO  AND 
LAKE  HURON  RAILROAD,  AND  ON  THE  GREAT  WESTERN  RAILWAY  OF 
CANADA. — FIRST  ASSISTANT  ENGINEER  ON  THE  PACIFIC  RAILROAD. — CHIEF 
ENGINEER  OF  THE  PLACER  CANAL  COMPANY — THE  CALIFORNIA  NORTHERN 
AND  SACRAMENTO  VALLEY  RAILROAD — THE  CALIFORNIA  CENTRAL  RAIL- 
ROAD— THE  SAN  FRANCISCO  AND  CENTRAL  PACIFIC  RAILROAD — THE  SAN 
FRANCISCO  AND  HUMBOLDT  BAY  RAILROAD. — CHIEF  AND  CONSULTING  ENGI- 
NEER ON  VARIOUS  LARGE  MINING  CANALS — NORTH  FORK  HYDRAULIC 


16  CONTENTS. 

COMPANY'S  WORKS,  AND  THE  CASCADE  CANAL  COMPANY'S  WORKS,  CALI- 
FORNIA— FLUMING  COMPANY'S  GREAT  ENGINEERING  WORK  ON  FEATHER 
RIVER.— ITS  SUCCESS.  Pages  293-300. 

JOHN  A.  HOBBLING, 

Civtt  Engineer. 

EDUCATION  AS  A  CIVIL  ENGINEER. — ASSISTANT  ENGINEER  ON  THE  PENNSYL- 
VANIA CANALS  AND  RAILROADS. — AQUEDUCT  OVER  THE  ALLEGHANY  RIVER. 

MONONGAHELA  SUSPENSION  BRIDGE. SUSPENSION  AQUEDUCTS  ON  THE 

DELAWARE  AND  HUDSON  CANAL. — WIRE-ROPE  FACTORY. — NIAGARA  RAIL- 
WAY SUSPENSION  BRIDGE. — CINCINNATI  SUSPENSION  BRIDGE. — ALLEGHANY 
BRIDGE. — EAST  RIVER  SUSPENSION  BRIDGE. — WORK  ON  LONG  AND  SHORT 
SPAN  BRIDGES.  Pages  301-326. 

APPENDIX. 

A.  DESCRIPTION  or  THE  UNION  CANAL,  PENNSYLVANIA,  1830. 

B.  FIRST  EIGHT- WHEEL  LOCOMOTIVE. 

Pages  321-331. 


-> 


MAJOR   ANDREW   BLLICOTT, 

SURVEYOR-GENERAL  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


THE  subject  of  this  sketch  devoted  a  long  life  to  the 
service  of  his  country,  and  illustrated  in  an  eminent 
degree  the  valuable  aid  intelligence  and  learning  can 
render  in  the  settlement  and  civilization  of  a  new  country. 

Andrew  Ellicott,  the  paternal  ancestor  of  the  Ellicott 
family  in  America,  was  born  in  Wales,  and  emigrated  to 
America  in  seventeen  hundred  and  thirty-one,  bringing 
with  him  one  son,  Andrew.  His  wife  remained  in  Eng- 
land, and  through  untoward  circumstances  never  joined 
her  husband,  although  an  affectionate  correspondence  was 
kept  up  between  them.  According  to  family  tradition, 
"she  was  a  woman  of  great  goodness,  intelligence,  and 
beauty  ;  worthy  of  her  husband,  who  was  a  man  of  high 
character  in  every  respect,  one  indeed  of  nature's  noble- 
men." The  following  ejaculatory  lines  were  written  by 
her  on  the  departure  of  her  husband  and  son  for  America. 

"  Through  rocks  and  sands, 
And  enemies'  hands, 

And  perils  of  the  deep, 
Father  and  son, 
From  Collosston, 

The  Lord  preserve  and  keep. — 1731." 
17 


18  CIYIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

Like  a  true  Christian,  this  good  woman,  in  these  prayerful 
lines,  forgot  herself  in  her  anxiety  for  her  husband  and 
child,  and  makes  historical  record  of  the  date  and  place  of 
their  departure. 

On  their  arrival  in  America  they  proceeded  to  Penn- 
sylvania, where  the  father  purchased  one  hundred  and 
fifty  acres  of  land,  in  Bucks  County,  near  Doylestown,  for 
his  future  residence. 

Joseph  Ellicott,  father  of  the  subject  of  this  biography, 
and  a  son  of  Andrew  Ellicott  the  younger,  who  came  from 
Wales  in  seventeen  hundred  and  thirty-one,  was  a  man 
of  considerable  local  notoriety,  for  his  mathematical 
knowledge  and  mechanical  skill.  In  seventeen  hundred 
and  sixty-six  he  visited  England,  and  while  there  pur- 
chased many  valuable  mathematical  instruments,  and  on 
his-  return  home  he  invented  a  most  interesting  and 
curious  machine,  a  musical  clock,,  now  in  the  possession  of 
Mrs.  Catherine  Evans,  of  Albany,  N.  Y.  In  the  construc- 
tion of  this  wonderful  piece  of  mechanism  he  was  assisted 
by  his  son  Andrew,  then  about  fifteen  years  old,  who, 
young  as  he  was,  had  become  quite  expert  in  the  manu- 
facture of  astronomical  instruments.  This  clock  is  of  the 
ordinary  size,  and  is  enclosed  in  a  substantial  mahogany 
case.  It  has  four  faces.  One  indicates  the  hour,  the  day 
of  the  month,  and  the  year ;  and  one  hand  traverses 
around  the  face,  by  successive  movements,  once  in  a  hun- 
dred years.  Another  face  exhibits  an  orrery,  and  displays 
the  motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  A  third  face  exhibits 
a  combination  of  musical  bells,  arranged  to  play  twenty- 
four  different  tunes,  one  for  each  hour  of  the  day.  The 


MAJOR  ANDREW  ELLICOTT.  19 

remaining  face  exposes  a  view  of  the  whole  internal  ma- 
chinery. 

There  is  much  in  the  mental  constitution  of  families. 
The  whole  history  of  the  Ellicotts  in  this  country,  from 
the  early  emigrant  Andrew,  down  to  a  recent  date,  is  a 
record  of  useful  practical  inventions.  They  came  from  an 
inventive  stock  in  the  old  country,  for  it  is  observed  that, 
from  the  year  sixteen  hundred,  every  generation  of  the 
family  has  been  distinguished  in  some  of  its  members  by 
mathematical  knowledge,  or  mechanical  skill. 

Joseph  Ellicott,  with  his  brothers,  purchased  (about 
seventeen  hundred  and  seventy)  two  tracts  of  land  on  the 
Patapsco  river,  and  soon  after  erected  merchant  flour  mills, 
that  were  afterwards  widely  known  as  "  Ellicott's  Upper 
Mills,"  and  "Ellicott's  Lower  Mills.7'  They  had  pre- 
viously built  a  mill  at  Jones'  Falls,  near  Baltimore,  the 
ruins  of  which  were  visible  a  few  years  since.  They  also 
established  an  iron  foundry  at  Elkridge  Landing,  then  a 
flourishing  place ,  and,  at  that  time,  the  rival  of  Balti- 
more. 

The  Ellicotts  introduced  on  this  Continent  the  use  of 
Plaster  of  Paris  as  a  fertilizer,  and  the  first  experiments 
with  it  were  made  at  Ellicott's  mills.  They  projected  and 
promoted  the  Baltimore  and  Fredericksburgh  turnpike, 
and  one  of  their  number,  Jonathan  Ellicott,  designed 
and  constructed  the  bridge  across  the  Monocacy  river, 
esteemed  at  the  time  a  piece  of  extraordinary  architec- 
ture. They  were  the  chief  instigators  of  the  Cumberland 
Road,  a  turnpike  of  much  importance  before  the  construc- 
tion of  railroads. 


20  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

To  the  Ellicotts  we  are  indebted  for  the  use  of  stencil 
plates,  which  they  substituted  for  the  use  of  the  old  style  of 
branding  with  hot  irons.  The  first  rolling  mill  and  blast  fur- 
nace erected  in  Baltimore  was  by  John  Ellicott,  who  is  said 
to  have  been  the  first  person  in  this  country  who  utilized 
the  waste  heat  arising  from  the  gases  evolved  in  the  blast 
furnace  as  an  agent  for  the  economical  generation  of  steam. 
They  also  introduced  in  milling  the  "  elevator,"  the 
"conveyer,"  and  the  "  hopper-boy."  About  the  year 
seventeen  hundred  and  eighty-six,  Oliver  Evans  pub- 
lished the  first  edition  of  the  "  Millwright  and  Miller's 
G-uide,"  a  book  which  is  yet  considered  a  standard  author- 
ity, in  which  he  frankly  asserts  that  the  practical  and 
essential  parts  of  the  work  were  received  from  Thomas 
Ellicott. 

About  the  year  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty-nine 
John  Ellicott,  a  cousin  of  Andrew,  was  engaged  in  experi- 
ments in  steam  machinery  for  the  propulsion  of  boats,  a 
subject  which  was  attracting  much  attention  from  the  more 
speculative  of  the  mechanical  engineers  of  the  time.  He 
was  very  enthusiastic  in  the  opinion  that  "  not  only  steam- 
boats would  be  navigated  through  the  water,  but  that  the 
time  was  approaching  when  roads  would  be  so  constructed 
and  adapted  to  machinery  that  steam  cars  would  roll  their 
rapid  wheels  from  city  to  city" 

It  has  been  claimed  by  some  that  John  Ellicott  in- 
vented the  first  steamboat  *  that  was  constructed  in  this 

*  It  was  about  the  year  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty-nine  that  the  first 
steamboat  that  ever  moved  upon  the  waters  of  America  floated  in  triumph  along 
the  canal  at  Ellicott's  Mills — the  steamboat  of  John  Ellicott. — From  the  Howard 
District  Press,  published  at  EUicotfs  Mills  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-seven. 


MAJOR  ANDREW  ELLICOTT. 


21 


country.  But  this  assumption  must  be  received  with  a 
liberal  allowance  to  a  local  pride  of  being  successful  claim- 
ant^ to  an  invention  that  has  produced  such  results  in 

rocean\and  river  navigation  ;  for  it  is  now  well  authenti- 
cated that  the  first  boat  successfully  propelled  by  steam 

/power  in  America,  was  constructed  and  tried  by  John 
Fitch,  at  Philadelphia,  August  twenty-second,  seventeen 
hundred  and  eighty-seven,  in  the  presence  of  nearly  all 
the  members  of  the  Convention  to  form  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States. 


FIRST  STEAMBOAT,  1786. 


This  fact  is  asserted  by  the  certificates  of  Dr.  John- 
son, of  Yirginia,  David  Rlttenhouse,  John  Ewing,  and 
Andrew  Ellicott,*  and  others,  two  years  previous  to  the 


*  From  the  well  known  force  of  steam,  I  was  one  of  the  first  of  those  who 
encouraged  Mr.  Fitch  to  reduce  his  theory  of  a  steamboat  to  practice,  in  which  he 
has  succeeded  far  beyond  my  expectations.  I  am  now  fully  of  the  opinion  that 
steamboats  may  be  made  to  answer  valuable  purposes  in  facilitating  the  internal 
navigation  of  the  United  States,  and  that  Mr.  Fitch  has  great  merit  in  applying  a 


22  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

time  stated  in  the  paper  referred  to,  that  John  Ellieott's 
steamboat  was  supposed  to  have  had  a  triumphant  suc- 
cess. 

His  experiments  resulted  in  a  disastrous  accident,  by 
which  he  lost  his  right  arm.  While  secretly  experiment- 
ing alone  in  the  night,  the  safety-valve  of  his  boiler 
became  obstructed,  and  a  violent  explosion  was  the 
result. 

Andrew  Ellicott,  eldest  son  of  Joseph  and  Judith  Elli- 
cott,  was  born  in  Bucks  County,  Pennsylvania,  January 
twenty-fourth,  seventeen  hundred  and  fifty-four.  He 
remained  in  Pennsylvania  until  December,  seventeen  hun- 
dred and  seventy-four,  when  he  married,  and  removed 
with  his  father's  family  to  the  Patapsco,  and  settled  at  the 
place  since  known  as  "Ellicott's  Upper  Mills,"  in  Mary- 
land. He  was  associated  with  his  father  for  a  number  of 
years  in  watch  and  clock  making,  and  assisted  him  in  con- 
structing the  celebrated  musical  clock,  already  alluded  to. 
His  attainments  in  science  soon  drew  public  attention  to 
him,  and  from  the  Revolution  to  the  day  of  his  death  he 
was  employed  in  the  fulfilment  of  trusts  conferred  by  the 
General  or  State  Governments. 

Though  belonging  to  the  Society  of  Friends,  he  com- 
manded a  battalion  of  Maryland  militia  in  the  Revolution, 
with  the  rank  of  Major.  In  seventeen  hundred  and 
eighty-four  he  was  employed  on  behalf  of  the  State  of 


steam  engine  to  so  valuable  a  purpose,  and  entitled  to  every  encouragement  from 
his  country  and  countrymen. 

Philadelphia,  December  thirteenth,  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty-seven. 

ANDREW  ELLICOTT. 


MAJOR  ANDREW  ELLICOTT.  23 

Virginia  in  fixing  the  boundary  line  between  that  State 
and  Pennsylvania.  He  had  previously  been  commissioned 
by  Congress  to  assist  in  the  division  of  the  new  States, 
and  settlement  of  boundary  lines!  About  this  time  the 
University  of  "Williamsburgh,  Yirginia,  conferred  upon 
him  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts. 

In.  his  Journal  he  says,  "  the  sickly  condition  of  my 
family  fixed  my  resolution  of  leasing  my  property,  and 

removing  to   Baltimore."     This   change  of  residence  he 

i 

effected  in  April,  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty-five.  In 
this  year  he  was  appointed  by  the  Governor  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, with  David  Rittenhouse  and  Andrew  Porter,  a 
commissioner  to  locate  the  western  boundary  of  that 
State. 

August  twenty-fifth,  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty- 
five,  he  writes:  "The  boundary  line  between  the  States  of 
Yirginia  and  Pennsylvania  was  completed  on  the  twenty- 
third  day  of  this  month.  It  makes  a  most  beautiful 
appearance  from  the  hills,  being  between  sixty  and 
seventy  miles  due  north,  and  cut  very  wide  through  the 
woods,  and  perfectly  straight.  The  Indians  appear  very 
peaceful,  and  I  do  not  apprehend  there  can  be  any  dan- 
ger within  the  compass  of  our  business  from  them.  My 
principal  companion  is  Mr.  Rittenhouse,  who  is  a  gentle- 
man I  daily  find  new  reasons  for  admiring." 

In  December,  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty-five,  he 
visited  Philadelphia,  and  spent  some  time  with  Mr.  Rit- 
tenhouse, and  also  visited  Dr.  Franklin,  with  whom  he 
maintained  the  most  intimate  relations.  In  April,  seven- 
teen hundred  and  eighty-six,  he  again  visited  that  city  to 


24  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

meet  Governor  Clinton  and  Mr.  De  Witt,  as  a  State  Com- 
missioner, but  upon  what  business,  other  than  that  it  was 
public,  he  does  not  state.  He  says  of  Governor  Clinton, 
"  he  appeared  to  be  a  thoughtful  old  gentleman,  and  Mr. 
De  Witt  a  man  twenty-seven  or  eight  years  of  age."  Mr. 
Ellicott  was  commissioned  in  June,  seventeen  hundred 
and  eighty-six,  by  the  Supreme  Executive  Council  of 
Pennsylvania,  to  run  the  northern  boundary  line  of  that 
State.  While  running  this  line,  in  seventeen  hundred  and 
eighty-six  and  seven,  he  visited  Lake  Erie,  and  with 
prophetic  judgment  writes  :  "  The  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica have  more  natural  advantages  than  any  other  Govern- 
ment or  power  in  the  world,  and  if  they  judiciously  turn 
to  their  own  account  those  advantages  which  they  have, 
from  the  nature  of  the  country,  they  must  become  both 
rich  and  powerful." 

While  a  resident  of  Baltimore,  Major  Ellicott  repre- 
sented that  city  in  the  Legislature  of  Maryland  with  ability 
and  credit.  He  also,  during  this  portion  of  his  life, 
devoted  himself  much  to  astronomy. 

Major  Ellicott  did  not  long  reside  in  Baltimore,  but 
about  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty-nine  moved  to  Phila- 
delphia, and  was  there  called  the  "  Geographer  of  the 
United  States." 

In  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty-eight  the  Supreme 
Council  of  Pennsylvania  directed  that  a  survey  of  the 
islands  in  the  rivers  Alleghany  and  Ohio,  within  the 
bounds  of  the  State,  should  be  surveyed,  and  to  Major 
Ellicott  this  duty  was  intrusted.* 

*  Colonial  Records,  voL  xiv.,  p.  615. 


MAJOR  ANDREW  ELLICOTT.  25 

In  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty-nine,  Phelps  & 
Gorham,  who  had  purchased  the  Massachusetts  pre- 
emption claim  to  Western  New  York,  were  desirous  of 
fixing  the  western  boundary  of  that  State,  to  ascertain  if 
it  did  not  include  the  present  town  of  Erie,  in  Pennsylva- 
nia ;  the  belief  being  quite  general  that  it  did — so  much 
so,  that  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  in  the  winter  of  seven- 
teen hundred  and  eighty-eight  and  nine,  made  proposi- 
tions to  purchase  it,  in  order  to  give  that  State  a  front  for 
commercial  purposes  on  Lake  Erie.  If  the  western  boun- 
dary of  New  York  did  not  include  it,  then  it  belonged  to 
the  United  States. 

For  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  facts  in  the  case, 
the  United  States  Government  sent  Andrew  Ellicott  in 
seventeen  hundred  and  eighty-nine,  for  the  purpose  of 
running  and  establishing  this  line.  Frederick  Saxton  was 
associated  with  him  on  behalf  of  Phelps  &  Gorham. 
Joseph  and  Benjamin  Ellicott  were  valso  of  the  party.  As 
the  line  was  to  run  due  south  of  the  west  end  of  Lake 
Ontario,  it  was  necessary  to  go  into  the  province  of  Upper 
Canada  to  ascertain,  by  accurate  measurement  and  obser- 
vation, the  west  end  of  that  lake  ;  but,  in  proceeding  to 
that  point,  they  were  arrested  in  their  progress  by  the 
military  authorities  of  Fort  George,  now  Niagara,  until 
permission  to  proceed  was  given  by  the  Governor-General 
at  Quebec.  A  messenger,  for  aid  and  instruction,  was 
despatched  to  President  Washington,  at  Philadelphia. 
The  President  represented  to  the  Governor  of  the  Canadas 
the  object  of  the  expedition,  and  immediately  received  the 
desired  permission.  Arriving  at  their  destination,  there 


26  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

was  some  hesitation  in  determining  whether  the  line 
should  commence  at  the  western  extremity  of  Burlington 
Bay  (at  the  head  of  which  the  city  of  Hamilton  now 
stands),  or  at  the  peninsula  separating  the  bay  from  Lake 
Ontario.  It  was  at  length  fixed  at  the  peninsula  ;  and  on 
the  completion  of  the  survey,  by  first  running  some 
distance  south,  and  then  offsetting  around  the  east  end  of 
Lake  Erie,  the  line  was  found  to  pass  some  twenty  miles 
east  of  Presque  Isle,  now  Erie.  The  line  thus  established 
forms  the  western  boundary  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
and  is  the  eastern  line  of  the  tract  known  as  the  "  Presque 
Isle  triangle/'  which  was  afterwards  purchased  by  Penn- 
sylvania from  the  United  States,  and  is  now  a  part  of  that 
State. 

This  survey  was  completed,  October  tenth,  seventeen 
hundred  and  ninety,  as  stated  in  a  letter  by  Major 
Ellicott,  dated  Presque  Isle  Fort,  October  eleventh,  in 
this  year  :  "  Yesterday  I  completed  the  business,  after 
much  hardship,  trouble  and  difficulty.'7 

His  very  valuable  service,  in  this  highly  important 
and  responsible  survey,  seems  to  have  been  duly  appreci- 
ated by  the  President,  and  other  public  officers  ;  for  he 
writes,  in  the  same  year:  "General  Washington  has 
treated  me  with  attention.  The  Speaker  of  Congress,  and 
the  Governor  of  the  State,  have  constantly  extended  to 
me  most  flattering  courtesies." 

While  making  the  traverse  of  the  Canadian  side  of  the 
Niagara  river,  he  first  saw  the  Falls  of  Niagara  ;  and  with 
Joseph  and  Benjamin  Ellicott,  as  assistants,  made  the  first 
actual  measurement  of  the  entire  length  of  the  river,  and  of  the 


MAJOR  ANDREW  ELLICOTT. 


27 


falls  and  rapids  from  Lake  Erie  to  Lake  Ontario.  Major 
Ellicott,  in  making  his  report  of  the  survey  of  the  boun- 
dary line,  mentions  these  measurements  of  the  river, 
which  have  ever  since  been  accepted  as  correct.* 


MILES. 

FALl* 

20 

15ft. 

From  the  Rapids  to         "         "        Falls  •     

11 

51  " 

The  Great  Fall  

162  " 

7 

104  " 

7 

2  " 

Total  

35  fr 

334  ft. 

In  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety  Major  Ellicott  was 
employed  by  the  United  States  Government  to  survey  and 
lay  out  the  District  of  Columbia  and  the  city  of  Washing- 
ton. For  many  years  he  enjoyed  the  cordial  friendship  of 
Washington,  Jefferson ,  and  other  leading  men  of  the 
country,  who  highly  appreciated  his  scientific  abilities 
and  unexceptionable  private  character. 

In  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety,  Phelps  &  Gorham 
sold  to  Robert  Morris  a  portion  of  their  lands  lying  on  the 
easterly  side  of  their  purchase,  and  adjoining  what  was 
termed  the  "Livingston  Indian  Lease  Company's  tract.'7 
Livingston  having  illegally  leased  the  land  from  the 
Indians,  the  State  of  New  York  declared  the  lease  void. 
The  line,  as  run  by  the  surveyor  of  the  Company,  was  west 
of  what  afterwards  became  the  village  of  Geneva.  But 

*  Ellicott's  report  to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  seventeen  hundred  and 
ninety. 


28  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

Robert  Morris,  being  dissatisfied  with  it,  employed  Andrew 
Ellicott  to  determine  the  true  line.  Major  Ellicott,  assisted 
by  his  brother  Benjamin,  and  by  Augustus  Porter,  run  the 
line,  and  found  it  to  be  as  far  east  of  the  village  of 
Geneva  as  Mr.  Jenkins,  the  surveyor  of  the  Lease  Com- 
pany, made  it  west  of  that  place.  The  difference  between 
the  two  lines  made  eighty-four  thousand  acres  in  favor  of 
Robert  Morris,  of  what  is  now  the  most  valuable  and 
beautiful  portion  of  Western  New  York.  The  care  taken 
by  Major  Ellicott  to  insure  correctness  in  this  survey — it 
being  made  with  the  best  instruments  then  in  use — caused 
it  ever  after  to  be  acquiesced  in. 

In  April,  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety- three ,  Governor 
Mifflin,  of  Pennsylvania,  appointed  Andrew  Ellicott, 
"William  Irvine,  and  John  Wilkins,  Jr.,  commissioners,  to 
view  and  lay  out  a  road  from  Reading  to  Presque  Isle,  in 
that  State. 

On  the  fourth  of  May,  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety- 
six,  Andrew  Ellicott  was  appointed  by  President  Wash- 
ington commissioner  to  fix  the  boundary  line  between  the 
United  States  and  the  Spanish  possessions.  He  set  out 
on  this  important  mission  on  the  sixteenth  of  September, 
seventeen  hundred  and  ninety-six,  by  the  way  of  the  Ohio 
and  Mississippi  rivers,  accompanied  by  his  eldest  son,  and 
a  detachment  of  United  States  troops.  The  Spanish 
Governor  having  possession  of  Natchez,  in  Mississippi, 
delayed  him  in  the  execution  of  his  mission  for  one  year. 
After  running  the  line  he  returned  by  sea,  and  arrived  at 
his  home  in  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  in  May,  eighteen 
hundred. 


MAJOR  ANDREW  ELLICOTT.  29 

After  his  return  home  from  Florida,  by  Governor 
McKean  he  was  appointed  Secretary  of  the  Land  Office  of 
Pennsylvania.  He  continued  in  office  until  removed  by 
Governor  Snyder,  in  eighteen  hundred  and  eight,  and 
then  retired  to  private  life.  September  first,  eighteen 
hundred  and  eight,  he  was  elected  to  a  membership  of 
the  National  Institute  of  Paris. 

As  an  officer  of  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Philadel- 
phia, he  frequently  filled  the  chair  so  often  occupied  by 
Franklin,  Rittenhouse,  and  Jefferson,  at  the  meetings  of 
that  learned  Association.  He  was  on  intimate  terms 
with  the  most  learned  men  of  his  time.  In  his  Journal 
he  mentions  a  very  flattering  visit  from  Dr.  Rush, 
and  also  from  Dr.  Priestly,  who,  he  says,  "  is  con- 
sidered one  of  the  greatest  men  now  alive.  He  looks 
very  well,  and  is  remarkably  lively  for  a  person  of  his 
great  age." 

Major  Ellicott's  claims,  for  expenses  incurred  in  the 
service  of  the  General  Government,  and  part  of  his  salary, 
seem  to  have  been  grossly  neglected.  In  March,  eighteen 
hundred  and  one,  the  office  of  Surveyor-General  of  the 
United  States  was  tendered  to  him.  In  referring  to  the 
proffered  office,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  Mr.  Wilkinson,  of 
Washington,  April  eighth,  eighteen  hundred  and  one,  he 
says  :  "  No  objection  to  the  office  of  Surveyor-General,  if 
it  could  be  kept  at  the  seat  of  Government,  which  would 
certainly  be  the  proper  place,  and  which  will  become 
obvious  when  the  public  lands,  from  Lake  Michigan  to 
our  southern  boundary,  are  offered  for  sale.  I  have  not 
means  at  hand  to  journey  to  Washington,  and  am  still 


30  CIVIL  AND.  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

feeling  ill  effects  from  exposure  for  eleven  months  in  the 
woods  of  Florida.  I  am  distressed  because  my  pay  has 
been  withheld.  I  have  been  obliged  to  sell  my  valuable 
library,  and  dispose  of  my  Theodolite  to  Major  Jonathan 
Williams,  to  procure  money  for  market  to  -  morrow ; 
ruined,  and  for  nothing  but  faithful  services;  never  used  a 
farthing  of  public  money  ;  never  lost  a  single  observation  by 
absence  or  inattention  •  and  never,  when  out  on  public  busi- 
ness, was  caught  in  bed  by  the  sun  ;  and  if  any  person  living 
can  produce  a  solitary  instance  to  the  contrary,  he  shall 
be  entitled  to  everything  I  claim  from  the  public.  The 
Spanish  Commissioners  divided  about  twenty-six  thousand 
dollars,  besides  their  pay,  and  have  been  complimented 
by  the  Court  of  Madrid." 

Notwithstanding  the  unjust  and  inexcusable  neglect  of 
the  Government  to  meet  his  just  claim  for  important 
services  rendered,  and  expenses  incurred,  his  patriotism 
and  love  of  country  continued  unabated  ;  and  his  faith  in 
its  importance  amongst  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  the 
glorious  future  of  the  Union,  founded  upon  a  sound  and 
far-seeing  judgment,  was  unbounded.  , 

In  a  letter  to  President  Jefferson,  in  eighteen  hundred 
and  one,  in  which  he  dwells  upon  the  importance  of  our 
country  being  practically,  as  well  as  theoretically,  inde- 
pendent of  the  mother  country,  he  remarks:  "That 
Greenwich  is  5h.  44",  or  76°  56'  6"  east  of  the  city  of 
Washington.  I  have  long  been  wanting  our  longitude  to 
be  reckoned  from  our  own  capital,  and  not  from  a  point 
within  any  other  nation  ;  and  for  this  purpose,  have  calcu- 
lated an  almanac  adapted  to  the  meridian  of  the  city  of 


MAJOR  ANDREW  ELLICOTT.  31 

Washington.  We  appear  yet  to  be  connected  with  Great 
Britain  by  a  number  of  small  ligaments,  which,  though 
apparently  unimportant,  are  nevertheless  a  drawback 
upon  the  absolute  independence  which  we  ought,  as  a 
nation,  to  maintain.77 

In  June,  of  the  same  year,  Major  Ellicott  says  to 
Monsieur  De  Lambre,  of  France,  in  a  letter  accompanying 
his  astronomical  and  meteorological  observations  on  the 
southern  boundary:  "I  shall  be  highly  gratified  if  the 
observations  should  merit  the  attention  of  the  Institute,  as 
they  were  made  by  a  self-taught  astronomer,  and  the  only 
practical  one  now  in  the  United  States"  In  reply,  he  re- 
ceived a  very  flattering  acknowledgment  from  the  learned 
Professor,  for  his  valuable  papers. 

In  December,  eighteen  hundred  and  one,  Major  Ellicott 
wrote  to  President  Jefferson  (inclosing  astronomical 
observations)  :  "  Being  now  the  only  native  of  the  United 
States  left,  which  time  has  not  swept  away,  who  has 
cultivated  practical  astronomy  for  the  purpose,  of  render- 
ing it  useful  to  commerce,  to  the  divisions  of  territories, 
and  the  determination  of  the  relative  parts  of  our  country, 
I  feel  a  desire  to  keep  the  subject  alive,  till  succeeded  by 
some  American  whose  fortune  may  put  it  in  his  power 
to  be  more  useful,  by  enabling  him  to  devote  his  whole 
time  to  the  improvement  of  so  important  a  branch  of 


science." 


With  the  enterprise  that  has  been  a  distinguishing  trait 
of  the  people  of  that  State  as  early  as  seventeen  hundred 
and  eighty,  the  subject  of  internal  improvements  engaged 
the  attention  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania ; 


32  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

and  in  that  year  an  Act*  was  passed  by  this  body  appoint- 
ing Commissioners  to  examine  the  Delaware,  Schuylkill, 
Susquehanna,  and  Juniata  rivers,  and  the  various  streams 
running  into  them,  and  which  are  capable  of  being  made 
navigable.  Major  Ellicott,  as  one  of  the  Commissioners, 
made  the  surveys.  He  was  instructed  to  "  carefully  mark 
such  places  where,  in  your  opinion,  locks  or  canals  are 
necessary.  You  will  note  all  falls,  obstructions,  and  all 
matters  and  things  necessary  to  form  estimates  to  be  laid 
before  the  General  Assembly,  of  the  expenses  of  clearing 
and  removing  such  obstructions  to  the  navigation  of  said 

*  1 1  *1»  *I*  •!••!•  *1*  *1* 

rivers. 

His  report  of  the  results  of  these  surveys  was  so  favor- 
able that  soon  after  a  company  was  chartered  for  inland 
improvement  and  navigation,  of  which  Major  Ellicott 
remarks  in  his  Journal : 

"The  proposed  Improvement  Company  of  Pennsylvania 
appears  to  me  the  most  rational  and  practical  scheme 
that  can  be  devised  for  effecting  those  improvements  in 
roads  and  canals,  which  the  present  state  of  our  country 
so  loudly  calls  for." 

Major  Ellicott  took  a  most  lively  interest  in  every  move- 
ment that  had  for  its  object  the  improvement  of  the 
country.  He  was  painfully  conscious  that,  from  causes 
incident  to  a  new  country,  we,  as  a  nation,  were  in  a 
condition  of  infantile  dependence  in  all  matters  belonging 
to  the  higher  branches  of  education ;  he  consequently 
labored  with  a  patriotic  zeal,  with  his  distinguished  corn- 

*  Colonial  Review,  vol.  xvi.,  p.  178. 


MAJOR  ANDREW  ELLICOTT.  33 

patriots  Franklin,  Rittenhouse,  Rush,  and  others,  to  pro- 
mote the  diffusion  of  philosophical  and  scientific  intelli- 
gence throughout  the  country. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  two  Andrew  Ellicott  wrote  to 
Monsieur  De  Lambre,  Secretary  of  the  National  Institute 
of  Paris  :  "In  this  country  I  have  not  a  single  astronomi- 
cal correspondent,  neither  is  it  a  science  which  has  been 
patronized  by  either  of  the  States  or  by  the  General  Gov- 
ernment. A  science  in  this  country  which  cannot  support 
itself  must  perish.  The  economy  of  public  money  is  con- 
sidered as  the  standard  of  merit,  and  supposed  to  include 
everything  necessary  for  the  honor,  dignity,  and  reputation 
of  a  nation.  From  this  circumstance  there  is  not  within 
the  United  States  a  single  Observatory,  nor  a  single  citizen, 
except  myself,  who  is  paying  any  attention  to  practical 
astronomy,  and  what  I  do  is  at  my  own  expense.  The 
President  of  the  United  States  is  both  a  lover  of  science 
and  a  man  of  science  himself,  but  he  has  no  power  by  our 
Constitution  to  aid  any  branch  of  philosophy,'  mechanics, 
or  literature,  unless  it  be  done  at  his  own  cost." 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  three  Major  Ellicott  wrote  and 
published  "The  Journal  of  Andrew  Ellicott,  late  Com- 
missioner on  behalf  of  the  United  States  for  determining 
the  boundary  line  between  the  United  States  and  the 
possessions  of  his  Catholic  Majesty  in  America." 

For  more  than  forty  years  and  up  to  the  time  of  his  death 
he  was  constantly  employed  in  some  public  capacity  ;  yet 
he  never  found  it  necessary  to  seek  a  position.  His  high 
character  and  superior  intelligence  elevated  him  without 
special  effort  of  his  own  to  a  leadership  in  those  depart- 


34  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

merits  to  which  his  life  was  devoted.  He  had  an  exalted 
sense  of  duty  and  a  well-sustained  conception  of  personal 
responsibilities.  In  reply  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  acknowledging 
the  appointment  of  Surveyor-Generalship  of  the  United 
States,  he  says :  "  The  proposition  I  consider  as  one  of  the 
most  honorable  and  flattering  incidents  of  my  life,  and 
were  my  own  feelings  and  inclinations  alone  concerned  I 
should  not  hesitate  one  moment  in  accepting  the  place  you 
offer.  But  as  there  are  some  other  considerations  to  be 
brought  into  view  and  duly  weighed  before  I  can  give  a 
definite  answer,  I  wish  the  subject  to  be  suspended  for  a 
few  days."  Seven  days  after,  he  wrote  the  President  sub- 
mitting his  own  proposed  arrangements  for  executing  the 
duties  of  the  office,  and  remarks,  "if  they  coincide  with 
your  ideas  upon  that  subject  arid  come  within  the  meaning 
of  the  law,  I  shall  have  no  objections  to  the  appointment." 

In  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  eleven,  Major  Ellicott 
was  commissioned  to  run  the  northern  boundary  line  of 
Georgia,  and  set  out,  accompanied  by  his  son  Joseph, 
from  his  home,  which  was  then  in  Lancaster,  Penn- 
sylvania, on  the  first  of  July  in  that  year.  They  em- 
barked at  Philadelphia  for  Charleston,  South  Carolina, 
and  from  thence  proceeded  to  Savannah,  and  the  upper 
country  of  Georgia,  and  after  running  the  line,  returned 
in  May,  eighteen  hundred  and  twelve. 

Andrew  Ellicott  was  appointed  Professor  of  Mathema- 
tics in  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point,  September 
first,  eighteen  hundred  and  thirteen,  and  immediately 
removed  to  that  place  with  his  family.  In  May,  eighteen 
hundred  and  seventeen,  he  proceeded  to  Montreal,  by 


MAJOR  ANDREW  ELLICOTT.  35 

order  of  the  Government,  to  make  astronomical  observa- 
tions (determining  the  intersection  of  the  forty-fifth  par- 
allel of  latitude),  to  carry  into  effect  some  of  the  articles 
of  the  Treaty  of  Ghent. 

During  his  residence  at  West  Point,  he  devoted  much 
of  his  time  to  astronomy,  which  was  his  favorite  study. 
Notwithstanding  his  other  varied  talents,  he  did  not 
possess  those  adapted  to  the  acquisition  of  wealth,  of 
which  he  had  excellent  opportunities  to  avail  himself,  had 
his  genius  led  in  that  direction. 

He  died  at  West  Point,  August  twenty-eight,  eighteen 
hundred  and  twenty,  in  the  sixty-seventh  year  of  his  age. 
His  wife  survived  him,  and  died  in  the  year  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  twenty-seven.  They  had  ten  children,  four  of 
whom  were  sons  ;  the  daughters,  and  three  sons  survived 
their  parents. 

President  Hale,  in  his  memoir  of  Major  David  Bates 
Douglass,  the  son-in-law  of  Andrew  Ellicott,  says  :  "The 
memoirs  of  the  late  Andrew  Ellicott,  when  written,  will 
form  a  valuable  addition  to  the  history  of  our  country, 
taking  us  away  from  the  beaten  ground  of  battle  fields, 
and  Senate  Chambers,  and  Cabinets,  to  the  services  which 
science  can  render  in  the  settlement  of  a  new  country  in 
a  civilized  age." 


JAMBS  GEDDES, 


SURVEYOR  AND  CIVIL  ENGINEER. 


NEARLY  half  a  century  has  passed  away  since  the  com- 
pletion of  the  Erie  Canal  was  celebrated  with  unusual 
ceremonies  and  unbounded  demonstrations  of  joy  from  the 
shores  of  Lake  Erie  to  the  harbor  of  Few  York.  Time 
has  demonstrated  that  the  rejoicings  attending  the  flotilla 
that  started  from  Lake  Erie  on  the  twenty-sixth  day  of 
October,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-five,  to  mingle  the 
waters  of  that  lake  with  those  of  the  Atlantic,  were  fully 
justified  ;  and  although  the  great  men  who  took  part  in 
that  grand  celebration  were  naturally  wrought  up  to  the 
highest  enthusiasm,  yet  they  failed  to  portray  the  far- 
reaching  effects  of  that  great  achievement.  In  the  course 
of  events,  other  and  more  rapid  modes  of  transportation 
have  been  completed,  and  diverted  public  attention  from 
this  pioneer  improvement,  until  few  are  perhaps  aware 
that  even  now,  in  the  extent  and  value  of  its  tonnage,  it 
far  exceeds  the  whole  foreign  commerce  of  the  United  States. 

It  has  been  justly  said  that  "  the  authors  and  builders, 
the  heads  who  planned  and  the  hands  that  executed  this 
stupendous  work,  deserve  a  perennial  monument,  and  they 
will  have  it.'7  To  borrow  an  expression  from  the  highest 


36 


|  ilB.H&llfur  Stuarts  Oroi  &  Military  Queers  ofAnuaica.. 


JAMES  GEDDES.  37 

of  all  sources,  "  The  works  which  they  have  done,  these  will 
bear  witness  of  them."  Americans  can  never  forget  to 
acknowledge  that  they  have  built  the  longest  canal  in  the 
world,  in  the  shortest  time,  with  the  least  experience,  for 
the  least  money,  and  to  the  greatest  public  benefit. 

The  Erie  Canal  has  exerted  an  influence  and  power  that 
beyond  computation  excels  that  of  any  other  investment 
of  money  ever  made  in  any  nation.  Not  only  States  that 
border  on  the  great  lakes  owe  their  prosperity,  some  of 
them  their  existence,  to  this  canal,  but  the  States  beyond 
the  great  River  Mississippi  must  for  ever  find  their  markets 
through  its  channel  to  the  Atlantic  cities. 

To  the  State  of  New  York  is  due  the  glory  of  this 
most  salutary  enterprise.  It  is  an  interesting  inquiry,  how 
was  this  single  State  induced  to  see  the  importance,  and 
to  bravely  attempt  the  construction,  of  this  long  line  of 
artificial  navigation  ?  Public  opinion  was  not  formed  in 
a  day,  and  the  necessary  facts  upon  which  to  base  discus- 
sion were  not  easily  obtained  at  that  early  period  in  the 
history  of  internal  improvements  in  this  country,  or  in 
England. 

Long  before  that  great  and  sagacious  statesman,  De 
Witt  Clinton,  whose  very  name  was  a  tower  of  strength, 
had  perhaps  ever  thought  of  the  measure  that  was  des- 
tined to  crown  him  with  a  glory  only  second  to  that  of 
Washington,  other  men  had  been  examining  the  country, 
with  a  view  of  determining  the  directions  of  the  water- 
courses and  other  physical  features  of  the  great  plain 
that  stretches  from  tide-water  on  the  Hudson  to  Lake 
Erie,  in  the  hope  that  nature  had  interposed  no  obsta- 


38  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

cle  to  a  canal,  uniting  the  waters  of  the  lake  and  the 
river. 

The  gathering  of  facts  by  patient  toil,  subject  often  to 
ridicule,  went  on  for  many  years  in  the  centre  of  the 
State,  before  the  subject  may  have  been  considered  as 
having  attracted  public  attention.  The  facts  thus  gathered 
were  the  basis  of  action  for  De  Witt  Clinton.  He  had 
the  sagacity  to  understand  them,  and  to  give  them  their 
just  consideration. 

Abundant  evidence  exists  in  public  documents  that,  in 
all  these  preliminary  labors,  Judge  G-eddes  bore  an  im- 
portant, if  not  absolutely  indispensable  part.  "He  lived 
near  the  centre  of  the  State,  and  all  his  interests  were 
connected  with  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  country 
in  which  he  had  made  his  home,  and  untiringly  he  pressed 
his  investigations  as  to  the  character  of  the  surface  of  the 
country  west  of  the  great  chain  of  swamps.  Extensive 
correspondence  was  resorted  to  with  land  agents,  survey- 
ors, and  other  men,  who,  it  was  supposed,  might  be  able 
to  gjive  information,  and  every  available  map  was  consulted. 
He  did  not  rest  with  this  ;  he  formed  public  opinion,  and 
agitated  the  subject,  until,  in  eighteen  hundred  and  seven, 
it  had  become  a  theme  of  so  great  interest  in  Onondaga 
County,  that  it  was  the  turning  point  of  local  politics/7* 

In  the  introduction  to  the  natural  history  of  the  State 
of  Few  York:  "The  merit  of  first  suggesting  a  direct 
communication  from  Lake  Erie  to  the  Hudson  is  given  to 
G-ouverneur  Morris,  qualifying  the  praise  by  the  fact  that 

*  Hon.  George  Geddes'  Address  before  the  Historical  Society  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 


JAMES  G-EDDES.  39 

the  scheme  conceived  was  that  of  a  canal  with  a  uniform 
declination,  and  without  locks,  from  Lake  Erie  to  the 
Hudson.  Morris  communicated  his  project  to  Simon  De 
Witt,  Surveyor-General  of  the  State,  in  eighteen  hundred 
and  three,  by  whom  it  was  made  known  to  James  Geddes 
in  eighteen  hundred  and  four." 

The  scheme  was,  by  the  Surveyor-General,  considered 
"as  a  romantic  thing,  and  characteristic  of  the  man"  and 
had  the  idea  fallen  into  no  other  hands  than  Morris7  and 
his,  it  probably  had  borne  no  fruit.  The  suggestion,  how- 
ever, once  made  to  the  Land  Surveyor  of  the  interior,  it 
began  to  take  form  and  substance.  Jesse  Hawley  was 
interested,  and  his  essays  signed  "Hercules,"  in  the 
6-enesee  Messenger,  continued  from  October,  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  seven,  until  March,  eighteen  hundred  and  eight, 
brought  the  public  mind  into  familiarity  with  the  project. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  seven,  Judge  Joshua  Fore- 
man, of  Onondaga  County,  and  Judge  Benjamin  Wright, 
of  Oneida  County,  became  enlisted  in  the  cause,  and  were 
elected  members  of  the  Legislature  by  the  citizens  of 
those  counties,  with  express  reference  to  moving  in  that 
body  the  grand  project  of  a  canal  ;  and  on  the  fourth  of 
February,  eighteen  hundred  and  eight,  legislative  action 
was  had,  and  an  appropriation  of  six  hundred  dollars  was 
made  for  the  preliminary  surveys  of  the  route.  These 
important  explorations  were  intrusted  by  the  Surveyor- 
General  of  the  State  to  James  Geddes,  and  executed  by 
him  in  a  manner  highly  creditable  to  himself,  and  satisfac- 
tory to  the  Legislature,  over  a  large  area  of  country,  em- 
bracing not  only  the  main  line  of  the  proposed  canal,  but, 


40  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

as  stated  in  the  report  of  Simon  De  Witt,  "  other  parts  of 
the  country  were  to  be  explored  in  order  to  ascertain 
which  of  all  practical  routes  would  be  most  eligible,  and 
this  resulted  in  a  report  of  one  almost  precisely  on  the 
line  which,  after  repeated  elaborate  and  expensive  exami- 
nations, was  finally  adopted." 

These  extensive  surveys  by  Judge  Greddes  extended 
from  Oneida  Lake  to  Lake  Ontario,  where  the  Salmon 
Creek  enters  it ;  another  line  down  the  Oswego  river  to 
the  lake  ;  a  line  from  Lewiston  to  the  navigable  waters 
of  the  Niagara  river,  above  the  Falls  ;  and  then  from 
Buffalo  east,  until  the  waters  flowing  into  the  Seneca 
river  were  reached ;  and  that,  too,  following  the  best 
route  that  exists  for  a  canal ;  and  all  this  work  was  accom- 
plished for  the  small  sum  of  six  hundred  and  seventy- 
three  dollars !  Did  the  State  ever  have  so  much  service 
performed  for  so  trifling  a  sum  of  money  before  or  since  ? 

Governor  Seward,  in  the  introduction  before  quoted, 
says  of  this  legislative  action  :  "  But  how  little  the  mag- 
nitude of  that  undertaking  was  understood,  may  be  in- 
ferred from  the  fact,  that  the  appropriations  made  by  the 
resolution  to  defray  the  expenses  of  its  execution  were 
limited  to  six  hundred  dollars.  There  was  no  Civil 
Engineer  in  the  State  of  New  York.  James  Geddes, 
land  surveyor,  who  afterwards  became  one  of  our  most 
distinguished  Civil  Engineers,  by  the  force  of  native 
genius  and  application,  in  mature  years,"  was  appointed 
to  make  the  survey,  and  reported,  "that  a  canal  from 
Lake  Erie  to  the  Hudson  was  practicable ,  and  could  be 
made  without  difficulty." 


JAMES  GEDDES.  41 

This  preliminary  survey  made  De  Witt  Clinton  a 
Canal  man  ;  a  most  valuable  acquisition  to  the  cause,  in 
view  of  his  great  political  and  legislative  influence.  In 
the  report  of  the  Commissioners  following  this  exploration, 
this  beautiful  sentiment  is  supposed  to  have  come  from 
the  pen  of  Gouverneur  Morris  :  "  Standing  on  such  facts, 
is  it  extravagant  to  believe  that  New  York  may  look 
forward  to  the  receipt,  at  no  distant  day,  of  one  million 
dollars  nett  revenue  from  this  canal  ?  The  life  of  an  indi- 
vidual is  short.  The  time  is  not  distant  when  those  who 
make  this  report  will  have  passed  away.  But  no  term  is 
fixed  to  the  existence  of  a  State  ;  and  the  first  wish  of  a 
patriot's  heart  is  that  his  own  may  be  eternal.  But  what- 
ever limit  may  have  been  assigned  to  the  duration  of 
New  York  by  those  eternal  decrees  which  established  the 
heavens  and  the  earth,  it  is  hardly  to  be  expected  that 
she  will  be  blotted  from  the  list  of  political  societies  before 
the  effects  here  stated  shall  have  been  sensibly  felt.  And 
even  when,  by  the  flow  of  that  perpetual  stream  which 
bears  all  human  institutions  away,  our  Constitution  shall 
be  dissolved,  and  our  laws  be  lost,  still  the  descendants  of 
our  children's  children  will  remain.  The  same  mountains 
will  stand,  the  same  rivers  flow.  New  moral  combinations 
will  be  formed  on  the  old  physical  foundations,  and  the 
extended  line  of  remote  posterity,  after  a  lapse  of  thou- 
sands of  years,  and  the  ravages  of  repeated  revolutions  ; 
when  the  records  of  history  shall  have  been  obliterated, 
and  the  tongues  of  tradition  have  converted  the  shadowy 
remembrance  of  ancient  events  into  childish  tales  of 
miracle,  this  national  work  shall  remain.  It  shall  bear 


42  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

testimony  to  the  genius,  the  learning,  the  industry,  and 
intelligence  of  the  present  age." 

Judge  Geddes,  in  conjunction  with  his  duties  as  Judge 
of  the  county  in  which  he  resided,  accepted,  in  the  year 
eighteen  hundred  and  sixteen,  the  appointment  of  Engi- 
neer on  the  Erie  Canal,  in  charge  of  that  portion  of  the 
work  from  Seneca  River  to  within  eleven  miles  of  the 
mouth  of  the  Tonawanda  Creek,  upon  which  he  con- 
tinued until  eighteen  hundred  and  eighteen,  when  he  was 
directed  to  superintend  the  location  of  the  middle  division 
between  Rome  and  Utica. 

During  this  period  he  also  made  a  remarkable  test  level 
between  Rome  and  the  east  end  of  Oneida  Lake,  em- 
bracing nearly  one  hundred  miles  of  levelling,  the  difference 
at  the  junction  in  the  levels  being  less  than  one  and  a  half 
inches. 

Previous  to  commencing  the  surveys  for  the  Erie  Canal 
in  eighteen  hundred  and  eight,  Judge  Geddes  had  used  a 
spirit  level  upon  one  occasion  only,  and  then  but  for  a 
few  hours,  and  under  the  following  circumstances.  A  law 
had  been  passed  directing  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres 
of  land  to  be  laid  out  in  the  Salt  Spring  reservation, 
and  sold  to  the  highest  bidder  ;  the  avails  to  be  appro- 
priated for  the  construction  of  an  east  and  west  road 
across  the  reservation.  The  survey  was  completed,  and 
Judge  Geddes  reported  a  fine  water-power  on  the  tract. 
The  Surveyor-General,  Simon  De  Witt,  being  assured  by 
certain  parties  opposed  to  the  construction  of  the  con- 
templated road,  that  there  was  no  water-power  worth 
improving  on  the  locality  designated,  he  therefore  put  a 


JAMES  GEDDES.  43 

spirit  level  into  his  gig  and  made  a  journey,  as  it  was 
deemed  in  that  early  day,  from  Albany  to  where  Syra- 
cuse now  stands,  and,  with  the  assistance  of  Judge  Ged- 
des,  levelled  along  the  Onondaga  Creek,  and  found 
that  there  was  a  good  water-power.  Thus  was  learned 
by  the  Land  Surveyor  the  use  of  the  spirit  level,  with 
which  in  after  years  he  became  so  proficient. 

This  level,  which  is  a  superior  instrument,  was  used 
for  many  years  by  Judge  Geddes  in  his  work  on  the 
canals  of  New  York,  and  in  exploring  for  the  Ohio  im- 
provements. It  is  now  in  the  possession  of  his  son,  Hon. 
George  Geddes,  Civil  Engineer,  who  treasures  it  in  con- 
nection with  these  interesting  reminiscences. 

In  the  summer  of  eighteen  hundred  and  eighteen  Judge 
Geddes  was  instructed  by  the  Canal  Commissioners  to 
repair  to  the  Champlain  Canal,  under  the  appointment 
of  Chief  Engineer.  He  commenced  the  final  location  of 
the  work  in  September  of  that  year,  and  continued  in 
charge  of  its  construction  until  eighteen  hundred  and 
twenty-two,  when  the  State  of  Ohio  applied  to  Governor 
Clinton  to  select  a  person  ' '  to  make  the  necessary  surveys 
for  a  canal  from  the  Ohio  River  to  Lake  Erie."  He 
recommended  Judge  Geddes  as  a  most  competent  engineer 
of  location. 

He  accepted  the  appointment  and  performed  the  duties 
devolving  upon  him  with  marked  ability  and  energy.  The 
district  of  country  embraced  by  his  investigations  was, 
with  few  exceptions,  a  complete  wilderness  ;  hence  the 
preliminary  surveys  were  exceedingly  arduous  ;  yet  they 


44  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

were  completed  in  an  almost  incredibly  short  period  of 
time,  and  his  report  submitted  to  the  Board,  who  ex- 
pressed their  approbation  in  these  words  : 

"  The  Commissioners  would  do  injustice  to  their  feel- 
ings if  they  did  not  avail  themselves  of  this  opportunity  of 
bearing  testimony  to  the  integrity,  ability,  and  industry 
with  which  Judge  G-eddes  has  discharged  the  important 
duties  committed  to  him.  Upwards  of  nine  hundred  miles 
of  country  have  been  examined,  and  the  level  of  nearly 
eight  hundred  miles  has  been  taken  with  only  one  instrument, 
in  less  than  eight  months.  His  perseverance,  and  the  interest 
he  has  taken  in  effecting  objects  so  important  to  the  State, 
under  all  the  privations  and  exposures  to  which  his 
duties  have  subjected  him,  will  now  and  hereafter, 
when  the  great  work  he  has  commenced  shall  be  com- 
pleted, be  duly  appreciated  by  the  people  of  Ohio." 

He  returned  to  New  York  in  eighteen  hundred  and 
twenty-three,  and  was  called  to  the  State  of  Maine,  to 
survey  the  route  of  a  canal  from  Sabago  Pond,  to  the  tide 
waters  at  Westbrook. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-seven,  Judge  G-eddes 
entered  the  service  of  the  General  Government,  locating 
the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Canal.  In  eighteen  hundred 
and  twenty-eight,  he  was  employed  by  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania,  upon  its  canals,  and  in  that  year  he  was 
also  appointed  by  the  United  States  Government  to  ex- 
amine the  country  in  reference  to  the  connection  of  the 
Tennessee  and  Alabama  rivers,  in  the  States  of  Tennessee, 
Alabama,  and  Georgia.  This  appointment  he,  however, 


JAMES  G-EDDES.  45 

declined,  on  account  of  distance  from  home,  and  his  ad- 
vanced age. 

James  Greddes  was  born  on  the  twenty-second  day  of 
July,  seventeen  hundred  and  sixty- three,  near  Carlisle,  in 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  His  father  and  mother  were 
both  descendants  of  Scotch  families.  He  studied  math- 
ematics under  the  charge  of  Mr.  Oliver,  a  man  of  thor- 
ough education.  Languages  he  studied  without  masters, 
and  became  a  scholar  of  the  first  order.  In  seventeen 
hundred  and  ninety-three,  he  visited  Onondaga  County, 
in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  settled  at  Geddes  (named 
for  the  Judge)  in  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety-four  ; 
which  place  was  his  residence  until  his  death,  August 
nineteenth,  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-eight,  he  being 
a  little  more  than  seventy-five  years  of  age,  thirty  years 
of  which  had  been  devoted  to  the  arduous  and  respon- 
sible duties  of  his  chosen  profession,  and  in  the  service 
mostly  of  his  native  and  adopted  States. 

He  was  emphatically  a  master  spirit  in  pushing  for- 
ward the  early  enterprises  of  his  country,  but  he  left  no 
collection  of  papers  by  which  a  compiler  might  do  justice 
to  his  memory.  He  had  been  solicited  to  do  so,  but  de- 
clined, saying,  "  I  attach  no  importance  to  what  I  have 
done,  having  simply  performed  my  duty  ;  therefore  I  ask 
no  higher  place  in  the  public  estimation  than  should  be 
spontaneously  given  to  me." 

When  the  surveys  of  the  Erie  Canal  were  first  com- 
menced, there  was  nothing  on  this  continent  that  could  be 
looked  at  or  used  by  the  engineers  of  the  State,  for  their 


46  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

instruction,  unless  the  work  of  the  u  Inland  Lock  Naviga- 
tion Company,"  at  Little  Falls,  may  be  considered  an 
exception.  Civil  engineering,  as  a  profession,  had  no 
existence.  Books  were  not  published  then,  as  now, 
from  which  systematic  information  could  be  procured. 
Attempts  were  therefore  made  by  the  Canal  Commis- 
sioners of  the  State  to  procure  the  services  of  Mr. 
Weston — an  eminent  English  engineer,  who  had  visited 
this  country  to  direct  the  construction  of  the  locks  at 
Little  Falls — to  take  charge  of  the  Erie  Canal,  offering 
him  ten  thousand  dollars  per  annum  ;  but  his  advanced 
age  compelled  him  to  decline  ;  upon  which,  they  were 
forced  to  accept  the  offers  made  by  our  own  engineers  to 
take  the  responsibility  of  executing  the  work. 

The  State  of  New  York  was  fortunate  in  having  among 
its  land  surveyors,  men  who,  surmounting  every  diffi- 
culty, achieved  with  limited  capital,  not  only  success,  but 
whose  examples  of  integrity,  industry,  and  perseverance 
will  forever  be  a  standard  for  the  imitation  of  American 
engineers. 

These  men  were  subjected  to  various  trials,  under  the 
rigid  system  of  economy  they  were  compelled  to  practise, 
known  only  to  those  who  were  united  by  their  services 
and  professional  pride,  in  the  successful  accomplishment 
of  an  enterprise  which  had  .become  the  great  object  of 
their  lives.  Through  difficulties  and '  perplexities,  they 
toiled  on,  slowly  progressing,  until  at  last  the  work  was 
completed,  and  fully  tested  ;  and  they  stood  triumphant 
before  the  country.  A  strong  bond  of  union  continued 


JAMES  GEDDES.  47 

through  life  between  these  noble  and  brave-hearted  men, 
who  had  labored  with  such  devotion  and  zeal  for  the 
public  good.  As  brothers  they  lived,  manifesting  for 
each  other  sympathy  and  kindness  through  all  their 
various  engagements  ;  like  brothers  they  mourned,  as, 
one  by  one,  the  links  in  life's  chain  were  broken. 


BENJAMIN    WEIGHT, 

SURVEYOR  AND  CIVIL  ENGINEER. 


THE  example  of  Washington,  who  laid  the  foundation 
of  his  fortune  and  fame  by  his  early  enterprise  and  industry 
as  a  surveyor  of  new  lands,  incited  many  ingenious  young 
men  to  break  away  from  their  quiet  homes  in  the  older 
States  and  try  their  fortunes  in  the  promising  West.  Of 
this  class,  and  amongst  those  who  by  their  success  have 
merited  a  lasting  monument  to  their  memory,  and  to 
whom  a  conspicuous  place  should  be  given  in  the  history 
of  the  country,  is  the  early  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Erie 
Canal. 

Benjamin  Wright  was  born  in  the  town  of  Wethersfield, 
in  the  State  of  Connecticut,  October  tenth,  seventeen 
hundred  and  seventy.  His  father,  being  a  farmer  of  limited 
means,  could  only  afford  his  children  the  advantages  of  the 
common  schools  of  the  time,  during  the  winter  months. 

From  his  childhood  Benjamin  manifested  a  deep  inter- 
est in  mathematics,  and  the  studies  relating  to  surveying. 
At  the  age  of  sixteen  an  opportunity  was  offered  him  for 
following  the  inclination  of  his  mind,  and  of  extending  his 
knowledge  in  his  favorite  studies.  He  was  sent  to  reside 
with  an  uncle  of  his  at  Plymouth,  in  Litchfield  County, 


48 


•'•  tui  Stuarts  Gml  8c"_Milir=jy  E 


BENJAMIN  WRIGHT.  49 

where  he  had  access  to  the  best  books  and  instruments 
which  could  then  be  obtained  by  country  surveyors.  With 
his  growing  knowledge  of  the  art  of  surveying  he  imbibed 
the  spirit  of  Western  emigration,  which  was  then  beginning 
to  move  the  enterprising  and  hardy  sons  of  New  England 
toward  the  fertile  valley  of  the  Mohawk,  and  the  fruitful 
region  of  the  Grenesee. 

Flattering  inducements  were  held  out  to  young  men 
who  were  capable  of  surveying  land  and  preparing  title 
deeds.  In  those  regions  of  the  country,  the  wilderness 
was  to  be  explored,  towns  were  to  be  planted  that  should 
grow  into  cities,  and  a  commanding  influence  was  to  be 
exercised  by  those  who  should  lead  the  way  in  these  works 
of  civilization. 

Young  Wright  soon  formed  the  design  of  trying  his 
fortune  in  this  then  remote  region,  at  the  first  favorable 
opportunity  that  should  present  itself.  His  spirit  was  im- 
parted to  his  father's  family,  who,  with  himself,  now  in 
his  nineteenth  year,  set  off  for  the  settlement  at  Fort 
Stanwix  (now  Rome),  Oneida  County,  State  of  New  York. 
Fort  Stanwix  was  then  on  the  western  borders  of 
civilization,  a  small  clearing  in  the  midst  of  a  dense  and 
extended  forest,  remote  from  other  white  settlements.  The 
only  roads  were  the  dilapidated  remains  of  a  military  road 
of  the  Revolutionary  War,  the  paths'  of  the  hunter,  the 
surveyor,  and  the  natives.  For  a  short  time  he  assisted 
his  father  and  brothers  in  clearing  a  field  and  erecting  a 
log  cabin,  a  kind  of  domicile  with  which  the  most  favored 
of  the  pioneers  were  happily  content.  His  knowledge  of 
surveying  soon  became  known  amongst  the  settlers,  and 


50  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

he  began  to  find  employment  in  his  favorite  pursuit. 
Through  this  employment  he  had  access  to  the  maps  and 
drawings  of  very  extensive  tracts  of  "land  around  Fort 
Stanwix,  which  originally  had  been  laid  out  in  lots  of  five 
hundred  acres  each.  These  he  subdivided  into  such  smaller 
lots  as  the  settler  purchased,  which  was  rarely  more  than  a 
half,  or  a  fourth,  of  the  original  lot ;  thus  making  a  demand 
for  his  services  as  often  as  a  new  resident  made  his  loca- 
tion within  the  settlement.  He  gave  up  all  his  time  to  his 
studies,  excepting  when  in  the  field.  He  procured  from 
abroad  the  best  books,  maps,  and  instruments,  and  by 
patient  toil  embodied  his  daily  observations  in  accurate 
topographical  maps.  His  descriptions,  estimates,  and  sur- 
veys became  authority  in  all  questions  of  boundaries. 

Between  the  years  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety-two 
and  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety-six,  he  laid  out  into 
farms  five  hundred  thousand  acres  in  the  counties  of  Oneida 
and  Oswego.  This  was  a  period  of  great  fatigue  and  hard- 
ship. His  party,  for  many  months  together,  would  pitch 
their  rude  tents  in  the  trackless  forest,  far  from  the  habita- 
tions of  civilized  men,  where  wolves  and  panthers  howled 
about  them  by  night,  and  the  fierce  savages  surprised  them 
by  day.  These  labors  would  not  seem  to  have  any  very 
important  relation  to  subsequent  and  more  important 
work  ;  but  had  he  been  impelled  by  a  foresight  of  future 
events  he  could  not  have  been  more  minute  and  exact  in 
his  topographical  surveys  than  he  was,  or  more  careful  in 
preserving  his  field  notes  and  other  information.  These 
he  found  of  great  use  to  himself,  while,  several  years  after- 
wards he  was  engaged  in  locating  the  line  of  the  Erie 


BENJAMIN  WRIGHT.  51 

Canal.  In  the  midst  of  his  hardy  and  homeless  pursuits 
he  did  not  forget  his  early  sentiments,  and  perhaps  youth- 
ful pledge,  and  in  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety-eight, 
having  laid  the  foundation  for  a  comfortable  competency, 
he  returned  to  Plymouth  and  married  the  daughter  of 
Simeon  Waterman,  and  brought  her  to  his  Western  home 
on  the  Mohawk. 

The  attachments  of  a  happy  home,  and  the  claims  of 
his  family,  gradually  drew  him  from  the  field  and  the 
forest,  and  engaged  him  in  other  scenes.  The  wilderness, 
which  he  entered  in  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty-nine, 
had  become  a  rural  district  of  great  agricultural  wealth. 
The  surplus  products  of  the  soil  sought  a  market,  at  the 
distance  of  one  hundred  miles,  over  roads  which  scarcely 
deserved  the  name.  In  this  state  of  affairs  the  people 
became  eager  for  some  water  passage  from  Oneida  Lake, 
through  Wood  Creek,  to  the  Mohawk  and  the  Hudson 
rivers.  In  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety-two,  the 
"  Western  Inland  Lock  Navigation  Company  "  was  formed 
for  this  purpose,  and  William  Weston,  an  engineer  from 
England,  was  employed  to  construct  the  improvements 
around  Little  Falls,  on  the  Mohawk,  and  thence  from  the 
river  to  Wood  Creek,  at  Fort  Stanwix.  A  few  years  after 
the  completion  of  these  works,  it  seemed  desirable  to 
improve  the  navigation  of  Wood  Creek,  by  dams  and 
locks,  there  being  a  descent  in  about  six  miles,  of  nearly 
twenty-four  feet,  and  the  navigation  very  difficult. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Directors  of  the  Company,  G-eneral 
Philip  Schuyler  being  President,  the  subject  was  dis- 
cussed, when  a  serious  difficulty  presented  itself.  Mr. 


52  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

Weston  had  returned  to  England,  and  it  was  said  he  would 
have  to  be  recalled  to  make  the  necessary  instrumental 
examinations — there  being  no  experienced  American  en- 
gineer. To  procure  Mr.  Weston's  services  would  be  ex- 
pensive. The  Directors  hesitated  ;  Mr.  Huntington  asked, 
u  Have  you  not  a  levelling  instrument?"  "  Yes  ;  but  we 
have  no  one  competent  to  use  it."  His  reply  was,  "  I  can 
use  it.  There  is  no  mystery  about  the  matter  of  using  a 
level."  General  Schuyler  raised  his  head,  saying,  "That 
must  be  so  ;  I  am  sure  there  must  be  ability  enough  at 
home  to  make  these  simple  examinations,  and  we  need  riot 
send  to  England."  Mr.  Huntington's  reply  was,  li  Put  your 
instrument  in  my  hands,  and  I  will  have  the  work  done 
for  you  in  a  satisfactory  way.  I  will  not  do  it  myself, 
but  I  will  find  a  man  who  will  do  it."  Immediate  assent 
was  given,  and  he  returned  to  Fort  Stanwix  with  the 
level.  He  went  to  Judge  Wright,  and  said,  u  I  have 
pledged  myself  to  have  a  map  and  profile  of  Wood  Creek 
made,  and  you  are  the  man  to  do  it."  The  Judge  assented, 
took  the  instrument,  and  examined  carefully  its  con- 
struction, tried  an  experimental  level,  starting  from  a 
fixed  point,  after  a  careful  adjustment  of  the  instrument, 
and  ran  off  half  a  mile  or  so,  and  tested  his  work  by 
returning  to  the  starting  point.  He  found  his  work  all 
right.  He  went  on  and  made  the  ma'p  and  profile  desired, 
to  the  satisfaction  and  delight  of  the  Directors.  It  was 
Judge  Wright's  first  work  as  an  engineer. 

The  Company  was  so  well  satisfied  with  the  manner 
of  his  executing  these  duties  that  the  President  directed 
him  to  make  a  survey  of  the  creek,  from  the  point 


BENJAMIN  WRIGHT.  53 

where  the  improvements  ended,  down  to  the  Oneida 
Lake.  This  he  performed  in  the  spring  of  eighteen 
hundred  and  three.  Immediately  after  completing 
this  work  on  Wood  Creek,  Mr.  Wright  received 
further  directions  from  the  President  to  survey  the 
Mohawk  river  from  Fort  Stanwix  to  Schenectady,  about 
one  hundred  miles  — "  taking  a  regular  traverse  of  the 
river,  its  windings,  its  breadth,  the  descent  of  each  rapid  ; 
the  descent  between  the  rapids,  the  depth  in  each  pool 
between  rapids — at  its  lowest  summer  draught — the 
height  of  alluvial  banks,  and  all  other  remarks  and  obser- 
vations which  he  might  think  useful  ;  "  and,  as  a  final 
duty,  to  propose  his  own  plan  of  improving  the  river  in 
as  economical  a  manner  as  possible,  and  one  adapted  to 
the  circumstances  of  the  Company.  This  duty  was  ably 
concluded  in  eighteen  hundred  and  three,  by  recommend- 
ing a  compound  of  dams,  locks,  and  short  canals,  to  form 
a  slack-water  navigation,  upon  the  cheapest  possible  and 
useful  plan.  Unfortunately,  the  pecuniary  Affairs  of  the 
Company  never  permitted  them  to  construct  any  portion 
of  the  work  contemplated  at  that  time. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  eleven,  Mr.  Wright  was 
employed,  by  the  Canal  Commissioners,  to  make  an  exami- 
nation of  the  north  side  of  the  Mohawk  river,  from  Rome 
to  Waterford,  on  the  Hudson.  His  instructions  and 
report  are  an  appendix  to  Canal  Reports,  volume  first.  In 
eighteen  hundred  and  twelve,  he  received  directions  to 
examine  the  country  from  Seneca  Lake  to  Rome,  and 
from  thence  on  the  south  side  of  the  Mohawk  to  Albany. 
His  report,  accompanied  by  maps  and  profiles,  of  this  ex- 
amination, was  very  full  and  complete. 


54  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

About  this  time  Mr.  Wright  became  the  agent  of  the 
land  proprietors  in  whose  service  he  had  made  the  most 
extensive  surveys,  and  the  heirs  of  those  great  estates 
bear  uniform  testimony  to  the  ability  and  fidelity  with 
which  he  fulfilled  his  trusts.  But  these  agencies  did  not 
prevent  him  from  taking  an  active  part  in  the  public 
affairs  of  the  county  in  which  he  lived,  being  repeatedly 
elected  a  member  of  the  State  Legislature.  During  the 
war  of  eighteen  hundred  and  twelve,  Mr.  Wright,  who  had 
been  appointed  County  Judge,  fulfilled  the  duties  of  that 
office,  and  continued  his  agency  for  the  proprietors  of  new 
lands.  But,  when  the  work  of  executing  the  Erie  Canal 
was  entered  upon  in  earnest,  he  withdrew  from  all  other 
employments,  and  devoted  his  whole  time  and  talents  to 
the  advancement  of  that  great  work. 

After  the  efficient  organization  of  the  Canal  Board  in 
eighteen  hundred  and  sixteen,  there  was  a  division  of 
opinion  on  the  question  of  sending  abroad  for  a  Chief 
Engineer,  but  the  views  of  Joseph  Ellicott,  and  others  in 
Western  New  York,  prevailed  in  favor  of  intrusting  this 
responsible  position  to  Judge  Wright  and  Judge  Geddes. 
Thus  was  the  novel,  and  to  some  minds  doubtful  experi- 
ment made  of  intrusting  this  important  work  to  the  skill 
and  ability  of  two  country  surveyors,  both  of  whom,  by  a 
singular  combination  of  circumstances,  were  self-educated 
men,  and  both  had  risen  to  the  dignity  of  Judges  in  the 
courts  of  their  respective  counties. 

It  is  now  a  matter  of  history  that  these  two  men  gradu- 
ally gained  the  entire  confidence  of  all  parties,  and  that 
they  richly  deserved  it ;  for,  although  the  work  was  the 


BENJAMIN  WRIGHT.  55 

first  of  its  kind  in  America,  of  vast  extent,  and  its  details 
spread  out  into  almost  infinite  variety,  yet  the  industry, 
forecast,  and  skill  of  these  engineers,  and  their  wisdom  in 
the  selection  of  their  able  assistants,  were  so  well  applied, 
that  the  many  enemies  of  the  enterprise  made  no  political 
capital  out  of  their  errors  or  defects,  nor  did  the  State 
suffer  for  any  want  of  fidelity  and  ability  in  the  dis- 
charge of  their  arduous  and  important  duties.  They 
also  showed  great  sagacity  in  beginning  their  work  in  the 
middle  of  the  line,  and  working  east  and  west,  through  the 
least  difficult  and  costly  parts.  In  this  way  they  con- 
ciliated adversaries,  and  prepared  the  public  mind  to  meet 
the  vast  expense  of  the  works  near  the  Cohoes,  and  Little 
Falls,  the  Genesee  river,  and  the  mountain  ridge. 

At  the  session  of  the  Legislature  of  eighteen  hundred 
and  sixteen,  petitions  were  presented  from  all  parts  of  tfye 
State ,  and  an  able  and  eloquent  memorial  from  the  city  of 
New  York,  from  which  the  following  is  taken  : 

' '  A  great  chain  of  mountains  passes  through  the  "United 
States,  and  divides  them  into  Eastern  and  Western 
America.  In  various  places  rivers  break  through  those 
mountains  and  are  finally  discharged  into  the  ocean.  To 
the  west  there  is  a  collection  of  inland  lakes  exceeding,  in 
aggregate  extent,  some  of  the  most  celebrated  seas  of  the 
Old  World.  To  connect  these  great  sections  by  inland 
navigation,  to  unite  our  Mediterranean  Seas  with  the 
ocean,  is  evidently  an  object  of  the  first  importance  to  the 
general  prosperity.  If  a  river  or  natural  channel,  navi- 
gable one  hundred  and  seventy  miles,  has  been  productive 
of  such  signal  benefits,  what  blessings  might  not  be 


56  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

expected  of  it  were  it  extended  three  hundred  miles, 
through  the  most  fertile  country  in  the  universe,  and  united 
with  the  great  seas  of  the  "West  ?  Great  manufacturing 
establishments  will  spring  up,  agriculture  will  establish  its 
granaries,  and  commerce  its  warehouses,  in  all  directions. 
Tillages,  towns,  and  cities  will  line  the  banks  of  the  canal, 
and  the  shores  of  the  Hudson,  from  Erie  to  New  York." 

This  powerful  petition  made  a  profound  impression  upon 
the  Legislature,  securing  at  once  the  law  of  April  seven- 
teenth, eighteen  hundred  and  sixteen,  being  the  first 
practicable  step  towards  the  prosecution  of  the  project. 
The  whole  plan  was  embraced  under  this  law,  and 
from  that  day  the  prosecution  of  the  canals  proceeded 
with  a  celerity  that  astonished  its  projectors,  and  con- 
founded its  opposers. 

The  first  engineers  appointed  under  this  law  were  : 

James  Greddes,  in  charge  of  the  western  section  of  Erie 
Canal. 

Benjamin  Wright,  in  charge  of  the  middle  section  of 
Erie  Canal. 

Chas.  C.  Broadhead,  in  charge  of  the  eastern  section  of 
Erie  Canal. 

The  Commissioners,  with  two  engineers,  visited  the 
Middlesex  Canal,  to  obtain  practical  information,  .before 
proceeding  with  the  surveys  and  estimates  for  the  Erie 
Canal. 

The  dimensions  of  the  Erie  Canal  were  fixed  by  the 
Commissioners,  at  Utica,  in  July,  eighteen  hundred  and 
seventeen,  as  follows  :  Width  of  canal  on  bottom  twenty- 
eight  feet,  at  surface  forty  feet,  and  depth  four  feet  •  the 


BENJAMIN  WRIGHT.  57 

locks  ninety  feet  in  length,  and  twelve  feet  wide  in  the 
clear.  On  this  basis,  the  first  engineer's  estimate  of  the 
Erie  Canal  was  made,  March,  eighteen  hundred  and  eigh- 
teen. 

"Western  section  by  James  Geddes $1 ,801,862 

Middle,         "         u  Benjamin  Wright 853,186 

Eastern,       "         "  Chas.  C.  Broadhead.  2,271,690 


Total $4,926,738 

The  first  expense  of  the  engineering  department  was 
submitted  April,  eighteen  hundred  and  seventeen,  and 
amounted  to  fourteen  thousand  four  hundred  and  sixty-two 
dollars.  Total  expended  for  explorations  and  surveys  up 
to  eighteen  hundred  and  seventeen,  forty-two  thousand 
nine  hundred  and  fifty-seven  dollars.  The  first  contract 
was  dated  June  twenty-seventh,  eighteen  hundred  and 
seventeen.  The  first  ground  was  broken  for  the  canal  at 
Rome,  July  fourth,  eighteen  hundred  and  seventeen.  Mr. 
John  Richardson  held  the  plough  that  opened  the  furrow 
in  the  commencement  of  the  Erie  Canal. 

The  report  of  the  Commissioners,  dated  January, 
eighteen  hundred  and  eighteen,  gives  details  of  the  system 
adopted  for  the  construction  of  the  canal.  That  they 
decided  to  extend  the  middle  division  to  Utica,  and 
resolved  to  let  the  work  in  short  sections  to  contractors  ; 
decided  on  a  long  summit  level.  Fifty-eight  miles  was 
put  under  contract  during  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and 
seventeen,  wholly  on  the  summit  level.  One  contract  was 
completed  and  settled  ;  the  whole  labor  performed  was 
equal  to  the  completion  of  fifteen  miles.  "  Three  Irish- 


58  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

men  finished  three  rods  of  canal,  four  feet  cutting,  in  five 
and  one-half  days.  On  the  fifty-eight  miles  only  one-half 
mile  required  puddling." 

The  middle  section  was  completed  October  twenty- 
second,  eighteen  hundred  and  nineteen,  from  Utica  to  the 
Seneca  river,  ninety-four  miles.  The  original  engineer's 
estimate  of  the  cost  of  this  section,  extended  to  Utica, 
was  one  million  and  twenty-one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  fifty-one  dollars.  The  actual  cost  was  one  million  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
eighty-three  dollars,  an  increase  of  a  little  more  than  ten 
per  cent.  This  increase  was  from  a  change  of  prism  and 
structures,  as  stated  by  the  Commissioners.  The  con- 
struction of  thirty-five  miles  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Cayuga 
marshes  was  greatly  retarded  by  sickness,  over  one  thou- 
sand laborers  being  disabled  from  this  cause,  between  the 
middle  of  July  and  October.  Water  was  let  into  the  long 
level  between  Utica  and  Syracuse  with  great  ceremony. 


FIRST  CANAL  BOAT. 

The  first  boat  passed  on  the  Erie  Canal  from  Rome  to 
Utica  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  October.  It  was 
dragged  by  a  single  horse  trotting  on  the  towing  path. 
It  was  built  at  Rome  (from  a  design  by  Canvass  White), 
was  sixty-one  feet  in  length,  and  seven  and  one-half  feet 
in  width,  having  two  rising  cabins  of  fourteen  feet  each, 
with  a  flat  deck  between  them.  It  was  constructed  to 


BENJAMIN  WRIGHT.  59 

carry  passengers,  and  was  called  the  "  Chief  Engineer,"  in 
compliment  to  Benjamin  Wright. 

Elkanah  Watson,  in  a  book  written  in  eighteen  hundred 
and  twenty,  describing  the  ceremony,  says:  "The  Presi- 
dent and  other  members  of  the  Board  of  Commissioners, 
attended  by  many  respectable  ladies  and  gentlemen,  em- 
barked on  the  ensuing  day  at  Utica,  with  a  band  of  music, 
to  return  to  Rome.  The  scene  was  extremely  interesting 
and  highly  grateful.  The  embarkation  took  place  amidst 
the  ringing  of  bells,  the  roaring  of  cannon,  and  the  loud 
acclamations  of  thousands  of  exhilarated  spectators,  male 
and  female,  who  lined  the  banks  of  the  new-created  river. 
The  sight  was  truly  sublime." 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Canal  Commissioners,  held  at 
Utica,  October,  eighteen  hundred  and  nineteen,  it  was 
resolved  to  let  sixty-three  miles  of  the  western,  and 
twenty-six  miles  of  the  eastern  section,  the  latter  being 
from  Utica  to  Little  Falls. 

The  Commissioners,  in  their  report  of  February,  eight- 
een hundred  and  twenty,  remarked  that  "the  novelty 
of  seeing  large  boats  drawn  by  horses,  upon  waters  artifi- 
cially conducted  through  cultivated  fields,  forests,  and 
swamps,  over  ravines,  creeks,  and  morasses,  and  from  one 
elevation  to  another,  by  means  of  ample,  beautiful,  and 
substantial  locks,  has  been  eminently  exhilarating." 

Tolls  were  first  levied  on  the  Erie  Canal  July  first, 
eighteen  hundred  and  twenty.  The  unexpected  loss  of 
water  on  the  completed  middle  section  settled  the  ques- 
tion of  the  necessity  of  feeding  the  western  section  from 
Lake  Erie.  David  Thomas  was  employed,  with  assist- 


60  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

ants,  in  locating  this  portion,  from  May  to  November, 
eighteen  hundred  and  twenty.  From  the  G-enesee  river, 
easterly,  fifty-one  miles  were  under  contract,  including 
the  whole  distance  to  Montezuma,  except  nine  miles. 

The  western  section,  from  the  Genesee  river  to  the 
mountain  ridge,  was  let  in  July  of  this  year,  and  during 
the  season  the  whole  distance  from  Tonawanda  to  Seneca 
river  put  under  charge  of  contractors.  The  line  across 
the  Cayuga  marshes  was  located  in  May,  and  the  work 
commenced  in  June,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-one. 
The  number  of  workmen  engaged  was  from  two  hundred 
to  seven  hundred.  Many  of  the  contractors  and  men 
were  prostrated  by  sickness  during  August  of  this 
year. 

The  canal  was  completed  and  navigated  from  Utica  to 
Little  Falls  in  September,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty- 
one,  and  the  remaining  portion  contracted  for  to  the  Hud- 
son river,  including  all  structures.  A  wooden  lock  was 
constructed  at  German  Flats,  connecting  the  canal  with 
the  Mohawk,  thus  making  an  uninterrupted  navigation 
from  Schenectady  to  Cayuga  and  Seneca  Lakes  for  boats 
of  sixteen  tons  burthen.  Messrs.  Wright  (principal)  and 
White  (acting),  engineers,  explored  the  country  thoroughly 
from  Little  Falls  to  the  Hudson,  and  pronounced  imprac- 
ticable the  route  from  Schenectady,  connecting  with  the 
Hudson,  back  of  Albany,  and  located  the  line  via  Cohoes 
and  Troy.  This  location  was  finally  confirmed  by  Messrs. 
Wright,  Geddes,  and  White. 

Two  hundred  and  twenty  miles  of  the  Erie  Canal  were 
completed  and  navigable  in  the  fall  of  eighteen  hundred 


BENJAMIN  WRIGHT. 


61 


and  twenty-two.  In  June  of  this  year,  the  rock-cutting 
through  the  mountain  ridge  was  assumed  and  performed 
by  the  State.  Two  miles  of  the  unfinished  portion,  con- 
taining two  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  cubic  yards  of 
rock,  the  earth  on  top  being  over  twelve  feet  cutting, 
requiring  the  removal  of  ninety-four  thousand  four  hun- 
dred cubic  yards  of  excavation.  This  deep  cut,  of  more 
than  seven  miles  in  length,  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
places  on  the  canal,  and  presents  a  striking  evidence  of 
human  power  and  enterprise. 


DEEP  CUTTING  AT  LOCKPORT. 


On  the  fourteenth  of  October,  eighteen  hundred  and 
twenty- two,  the  water  was  first  passed  through  the  canal, 
over  the  Irondequoit  embankment,  seventy  feet  high, 
supplied  from  the  Grenesee  river,  and  produced  at  once 
active  navigation,  before  rendered  nearly  useless  for  want 
of  an  adequate  supply  of  water.  Not  being  able  to  com- 
plete the  canal  across  the  Cayuga  marshes,  a  wooden  lock 


62  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

connected  it  with  the  Seneca  river  ;  so  that  in  May, 
eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-two,  tolls  began  to  be 
collected  upon  the  western  section.  The  middle  section 
was  navigable  from  April  to  December  this  year,  including 
the  eastern  section  from  Utica  to  Little  Falls. 

"Next  to  the  mountain  ridge,  the  construction  of  the 
canal  at  the  Little  Falls  was  the  most  formidable  labor 
executed.  During  some  mighty  convulsions  of  nature  the 
waters  of  the  West  at  a  former  period  evidently  tore 
for  themselves  a  passage  through  what  previously  had 
been  a  barrier  of  mountain  granite.  The  hills  rise  on 
either  side  to  a  height  of  nearly  five  hundred  feet,  and  at 
one  point  the  cragged  promontories  approximate  very 
near.  Through  this  chasm  the  Mohawk  tumbles  over  a 
rocky  bed  and  falls ,  in  the  distance  of  half  a  mile,  to  the 
depth  of  forty  feet.  The  old  canal  of  the  { Inland  Lock 
Navigation  Company'  was  constructed  on  the  north  side 
of  the  rapids,  which  affords  a  far  more  favorable  route. 
The  Erie  Canal  runs  upon  the  south  side,  the  bed  of  which 
was  excavated  in  the  solid  rock.  The  view  is  exceedingly 
wild  and  picturesque.  Above,  the  rocks  impend  in  rugged 
and  fearful  grandeur  ;  while  beneath,  the  foaming  torrent 
of  the  Mohawk  dashes  from  rock  to  rock  until  it  leaps  into 
a  basin  of  great  depth,  and  then  steals  tranquilly  through 
the  rich  vale,  extending  to  the  falls  of  the  Cohoes.  The 
village  stands  upon  the  north  side,  and  is  connected  with 
the  canal  by  a  stupendous  aqueduct,  thrown  over  the 
*  river  by  means  of  three  arches,  viz.:  an  elliptical  one  of 
seventy  feet,  embracing  the  whole  stream  in  an  ordinary 
state  of  its  waters,  with  one  on  each  side,  of  fifty  feet 


BENJAMIN  WRIGHT. 


63 


span,  elevating  the  surface  of  the  canal  thirty  feet  above 
that  of  the  river."* 


VIEW  OF  THE  AQUEDUCT  AT  LITTLE  FALLS. 

On  the  fifteenth  of  November,  eighteen  hundred  and 
twenty-two,  water  was  let  into  the  canal  and  navigated 
by  boats  drawing  two  feet  of  water,  from  Little  Falls  to 
Schenectady.  From  the  latter  place  to  Albany  the  canal 
was  completed,  embracing  twenty-nine  locks,  and  the 
water  was  let  in  October  first,  eighteen  hundred  and 
twenty-three,  thousands  celebrating  the  event.  Four  miles 
below  Schenectady  the  canal  crosses  the  Mohawk  river 
through  an  aqueduct  seven  hundred  and  forty-eight  feet  in 
length  between  the  abutments,  supported  by  sixteen  piers, 
twenty  feet  above  the  river.  Twelve  miles  lower  down 
the  canal  recrosses  the  Mohawk  on  an  aqueduct  of  nine- 
teen hundred  and  eighty-eight  feet  in  length  between  the 
abutments,  resting  on  twenty-six  piers.  The  piers  are  all 

*  From  William  L.  Stone's  Narrative  of  Erie  Canal  Celebration. 


64  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

built  of  durable  stone,  well  cut  and  coursed,  and  laid  in 
water-lime  cement.  Two  hundred  and  eighty  miles  of  the 
Erie  Canal  was  navigated  in  October,  eighteen  hundred 
and  twenty-three. 

In  September,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-four,  there 
was  uninterrupted  navigation  between  Albany  and  Brock- 
port.  This  year,  three  hydrostatic  locks  were  constructed 
on  the  canal  at  Troy,  Utica,  and  Syracuse.  The  tonnage 
of  boats  was  obtained  by  measuring  in  a  pond  the  dis- 
placed water  that  had  been  previously  gauged  in  the 
lock.  The  capacity  of  boats,  in  eighteen  hundred  and 
twenty-four,  was  from  thirty -five  to  forty-five  tons.  The 
tonnage  going  to  tide  water  was  five  times  greater  than 
that  coming  from  it. 

On  the  twenty-fifth  of  October,  eighteen  hundred  and 
twenty-five,  water  was  admitted  into  the  Erie  Canal,  at 
Black  Rock,  from  Lake  Erie,  and  the  same  day  the  first 
boat  ascended  the  Lockport  locks,  and  passed  through  the 
mountain  ridge  to  Lake  Erie,  thus  making  an  uninter- 
rupted navigation  from  the  Hudson.  The  admission  of 
water  into  the  canal  at  Black  Rock  gave  a  depth  of  six 
feet  above  bottom  from  Buffalo  to  Lockport,  as  originally 
located  by  David  Thomas.  The  water  was  drawn  east- 
ward by  a  declivity  of  one  inch  to  each  mile. 

The  Hon.  Cadwallader  D.  Colden,  in  his  memoir  of  the 
Erie  Canal,  written  in  November,  eighteen  hundred  and 
twenty-five,  says  :  "The  completion  of  the  western  sec- 
tion, and,  of  course,  of  the  whole  Erie  Canal,  was  an- 
nounced to  us  by  the  sound  of  cannon  on  the  twenty-sixth 
day  of  last  month,  and  to-morrow  we  shall  witness  the 


BENJAMIN  WRIGHT.  65 

arrival  of  a  canal  boat  from  Buffalo,  after  an  internal 
navigation  of  five  hundred  and  thirteen  miles  ;  she  will 
have  passed  three  hundred  and  sixty-three  miles  on  one 
continued,  uninterrupted,  artificial  canal,  forty  feet  wide 
on  the  surface,  twenty-eight  at  the  bottom,  with  four  feet 
depth  of  water  ;  she  will  have  passed  through  eighty- 
three  locks,  built  of  massive  stone,  the  chambers  of  which 
are  ninety  by  fifteen  feet,  capable  of  containing  boats  of 
more  than  one  hundred  tons  burthen  ;  and  she  will,  when 
she  arrives  at  Albany,  have  descended  five  hundred 
and  fifty-five  feet ;  but  her  ascent  and  descent,  in  the 
course  of  her  voyage,  will  have  been  six  hundred  and 
sixty-two  feet.  The  great  embankment  across  the  Iron- 
dequoit,  over  which  the  western  section  of  the  canal 
passes,  is  one  of  the  greatest  works  on  the  canal.  This 
aerial  watercourse  extends  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
on  a  mound  of  earth,  seventy-three  feet  in  height,  from  a 
stream  flowing  through  a  culvert  at  its  base.  ^The  passen- 
ger looks  down  from  the  narrow  eminence  on  the  tops  of 
aged  forest  trees,  rooted  in  the  bottom  of  the  valley. 
There  are  works  upon  the  canal  which  are  undoubtedly 
of  a  more  artificial  character,  and  may  appear  to  some 
more  magnificent ;  but  when  the  length,  and  height,  and 
magnitude  of  this  embankment  are  considered,  and  when, 
above  the  tops  of  the  trees,  boats  are  seen  passing  on  its 
summit,  which  is  but  little  wider  than  is  necessary  for  the 
canal  and  towing  path,  it  must  excite  great  admiration.'7 
Upon  the  middle  section  there  is  an  uninterrupted  level 
of  sixty-nine  miles  and  a-half,  and  on  the  western  section 
there  is  another  level  of  sixty-three  miles.  The  extra- 


66  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

ordinary  lengths  of  these  levels  evince  the  correctness  of 
Mr.  Colle's  idea,  that  ' '  the  Alleghany  mountains  died 
away  as  they  approach  the  Mohawk.  The  difficulties 
which  presented  themselves  on  the  eastern  section  ap- 
peared more  formidable  than  any  that  were  to  be  met 
with  elsewhere  on  the  route.  The  cataract  of  the  Cohoes 
was  to  be  surmounted  ;  a  path  for  the  canal  was  to  be 
found  along  the  abrupt  rocky  shores,  rising  generally  to  a 
great  elevation,  and  in  many  places  divided  only  by  the 
narrow  bed  of  the  Mohawk  ;  the  upper  falls  of  that  river 
were  to  be  overcome.  To  accomplish  this,  and  preserve  a 
due  level,  it  was  necessary  to  carry  the  canal  upon  a 
ledge  twenty  and  thirty  feet  above  the  base  of  perpendic- 
ular rocks.  The  ingenuity  of  our  countrymen  found,  by 
what  they  call  sand-blasts,  means  of  blowing  off  such 
masses  of  rock  that  a  bed  was  made  for  the  canal  with 
less  labor  than  had  been  anticipated.  In  eighty  days  the 
work  was  accomplished,  which,  before  it  was  commenced, 
it  was  calculated  would  require  several  years." 

In  speaking  of  this  section,  the  Canal  Commissioners  in 
their  report  of  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-four,  say  : 
"  None  but  those  who  have  examined  the  line  previous  to 
the  commencement  of  the  work  ;  who  had  seen  the  rude 
and  undulating  surface  which  is  traversed,  the  rocks 
which  were  to  be  blasted,  the  irregular  ledges,  filled  with 
chasms  and  fissures,  which  were  to  form  the  basis  of  a 
water-tight  canal  ;  the  spongy  swamps  and  gravel  beds, 
and  quicksands,  which  were  to  be  made  impervious  to 
water,  and,  in  short,  the  huge  masses  of  rough  materials, 
which,  with  uncommon  labor  were  to  be  reduced  to  sym- 


BENJAMIN  WRIGHT.  67 

metry  and  form,  can  easily  appreciate  the  efforts  which  it 
has  required  to  surmount  these  serious  obstacles.'7 

The  Canal  Commissioners  do  not  hesitate  to  admit  that, 
had  this  section  been  commenced  while  their  infor- 
mation as  to  constructing  canals  was  merely  theoretical, 
probably  the  attempt  to  complete  it  would  either  have 
been  entirely  abortive,  or  so  .imperfectly  executed  as  to 
have  defeated  the  accomplishment  of  the  great  work  of 
internal  improvements.  There  are  very  many  objects  on 
the  canal  which  deserve  attention,  but  to  notice  them 
would  require  details  which  space  will  not  admit ;  nor  can 
mention  be  made  of  all  who  have  been  concerned  in  the 
immediate  execution  of  these  great  works.  "  But  no  eulogy 
could  do  so  much  justice  as  an  appeal  to  their  works.  It 
has  been  said,  and  it  is  believed  truly,  that  they  have 
completed,  in  the  shortest  time,  and  at  the  least  expense, 
the  longest  uninterrupted  canal  in  the  world." 

In  one  of  their  annual  reports,  the  Board,  of  Commis- 
sioners say  :  "  In  looking  back  to  the  numerous  difficulties 
and  responsibilities,  some  of  them  of  an  aspect  the  most 
disheartening,  which  surround  the  canals,  especially  in 
their  commencement,  we  feel  compelled  by  common  justice 
to  commend  the  aid  which  has  at  all  times  been  afforded 
by  our  engineers.  In  the  selection  of  all  the  persons  who 
are  now  employed  by  us  under  this  character  we  have 
been  eminently  fortunate.  But  to  the  Hon.  Benjamin 
Wright  and  the  Hon.  James  Geddes  the  State  is  mostly 
indebted.  Possessing  much  local  information,  competent 
science,  long  experience  in  many  kinds  of  business  bear- 
ing some  analogy  to  canal  operations,  and  well  established 


68  CIVIL  AND  MiLiTARr  ENGINEERS. 

characters  for  industry  and  fidelity,  these  gentlemen  have 
rendered  the  most  essential  service  in  all  the  duties  of 
their  departments.  They  have  unceasingly  devoted  their 
best  faculties  to  the  great  cause  in  which  they  were 
engaged,  and  they  have  hitherto  been  found  equal  to  the 
high  trust  confided  to  them."  The  report  of  the  Commis- 
sioners for  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty  was  accompanied 
by  surveys  made  by  David  Thomas  of  the  harbor  of 
Buffalo.  They  state  that  "the  engineers  have  devoted 
themselves  to  the  management  and  superintendence  of  the 
works  with  a  zeal  and  ability,  to  which  the  speed,  efficiency 
and  economy  with  which  it  has  been  executed,  bears 
the  best  evidence  ;  when  it  is  considered  that  they  could 
have  had  no  experience,  that  the  science  they  acquired 
must  have  been  in  a  great  measure  the  result  of  mental 
application,  while  they  were  constantly  employed  in  the 
active  and  anxious  duties  of  their  station,  they  deserve  a 
commendation,  to  which  anything  we  could  say  would  be 
very  inadequate." 

In  a  letter  from  *D.  S.  Gregory,  Esq.,  to  Hon.  Benjamin 
H.  Wright,  dated  Jersey  City,  June  twenty-fifth,  eighteen 
hundred  and  sixty-six,  he  remarks  : 

"Thus  I  know  that  the  Commissioners  thought  they 
must  send  for  some  great  engineer  from  England  from  the 
Duke  of  Bridgewater's  Canal,  to  teach  us  how  to  build  a 
canal,  fearing  to  trust  our  common-place  Americans.  At 
length  they  settled  upon  that  plain,  unsophisticated,  and 
unpretending  land  surveyor — nothing  but  an  old-fashioned 
land  surveyor — Benjamin  "Wright,  for  the  engineer  on  the 

*  Mr.  Gregory  was  for  many  years  in  the  office  of  the  Comptroller  of  N.  Y.  State. 


BENJAMIN  WRIGHT.  69 

Erie,  and  James  Geddes  on  the  Champlain  Canal.  From 
this  school  arose  nearly  all  the  canal  engineers  who  have 
lined  the  map  of  the  country  with  their  works  of  internal 
improvements.  What  struck  me  about  your  father  was 
his  modesty  and  unpretending  merit,  his  quiet  way  of 
doing  his  business,  and  the  immense  labor  he  performed: 
All  the  estimates  for  payment  were  in  his  own  hand- 
writing, and  when  he  settled  up  (no  forms  or  blanks  were 
printed  in  those  days),  the  full  statement  was  made  of  the 
work  done  by  the  contractor,  referring  to  the  contract, 
and  specifying  every  item,  with  a  summary  of  all  pay- 
ments before  closing,  with  a  receipt  in  full  of  the  trans- 
action, all  in  his  own  handwriting,  neat  and  plain." 

In  all  the  exciting  scenes  of  that  great  celebration,  in 
eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-five,  when  the  waters  of 
Lake  Erie  were  poured  into  those  of  the  Atlantic,  at  the 
right  hand  of  De  Witt  Clinton  was  Judge  Wright,  in  calm 
and  dignified  satisfaction,  receiving  the  grateful  ap- 
plause of  thousands  upon  the  completion  of  that  vast 
work  of  international  improvement,  which  was  to  mark 
the  second  epoch  in  the  prosperity  of  his  country. 

Long  before  the  Erie  Canal  was  completed,  it  awakened 
the  spirit  of  internal  improvement  in  all  the  Northern  and 
Middle  States  of  the  Union.  The  names  of  Judge  Wright 
and  Judge  Greddes,  and  their  able  assistant  engineers, 
were  everywhere  associated  with  this  spirit.  As  fast  as 
the  way  became  prepared  for  it,  they  were  called  by  the 
different  legislative  authorities,  or  canal  companies,  either 
as  chiefs  or  consulting  engineers,  in  most  of  the  important 
works  undertaken  in  the  United  States,  the  Canadas,  and 


70  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

the  West  Indies,  upon  many  of  which  Judge  "Wright  was 
engaged  as  chief  or  as  a  consulting  engineer. 

As  early  as  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty, 
Judge  Mills,  of  Connecticut,  applied  to  De  Witt  Clinton 
for  advice  about  an  engineer  to  begin  the  work  of  the 
Farmington  Canal.  In  the  reply  of  Governor  Clinton  are 
these  words  :  "We  are  most  indebted  to  this  man"  (Ben- 
jamin Wright)  "  for  our  work."  And  in  consequence  of 
this  answer,  Judge  Wright,  in  eighteen  hundred  and 
twenty-one,  was  appointed  Consulting  Engineer  on  a  canal 
leading  from  tide  water  to  the  Connecticut  river,  at 
Northampton,  in  the  very  neighborhood  where  he  had 
gone  to  the  common  school  in  the  winter  months. 

The  following  year  he  received  a  similar  appointment 
on  the  Blackstone  Canal,  in  Rhode  Island,  extending  from 
Providence  to  Worcester.  In  eighteen  hundred  and 
twenty-three  he  was  called  in  consultation  on  the  Chesa- 
peake and  Delaware  Canal,  in  connection  with  Colonel 
Totten,  General  Bernard,  and  Canvass  White ,  as  his  asso- 
ciate counsellors.  In  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-four 
he  was  called  to  Virginia,  in  consultation  about  the  canal 
from  Richmond  to  the  Ohio  river.  Here  he  was  ap- 
pointed one  of  the  special  commissioners  to  revise  all  that 
had  been  done,  and  a  future  examination  resulted  in  his 
appointment,  in  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-five,  as  Chief 
Engineer  of  that  important  work. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-four  he  was  made  Chief 
Engineer  of  the  Chesapeake  and  Delaware  Canal,  and 
Consulting  Engineer  on  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal 
in  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-five.  In  eighteen  him- 


BENJAMIN  WRIGHT.  71 

dred  and  twenty-eight,  General  Mercer,  President  of  the 
Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Canal,  visited  Judge  Wright,  in 
Delaware,  and  invited  him  to  be  the  Chief  Engineer  of 
that  great  work,  which  office  he  afterwards  accepted ; 
and  resigned  in  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-one. 

Judge  Wright  was  now  turned  of  sixty  years,  and  his 
family,  whom  he  had  previously  removed  to  the  city  of 
New  York,  earnestly  desired  him  to  spend  the  remainder 
of  his  days  in  retirement,  under  his  own  roof.  In  accor- 
dance with  this  plan  he  was.  in  eighteen  hundred  and 
thirty-two,  appointed  Street  Commissioner  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  but  the  nature  of  the  office  and  its  duties  was 
as  little  suited  to  his  tastes  as  the  confinement  of  it  was  to 
his  habits,  and  he  retired  from  it  at  the  close  of  that  year. 

But  the  Harlem  Railroad  Company  did  not  leave  him  a 
day  at  leisure.  He  was  appointed  Chief  Engineer  on  that 
work,  but  obtained  leave  of  absence  in  the  autumn  to 
fulfil  an  appointment  for  consultation  at  Montreal,  on  the 
Ship  Canal  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  In  the  next  year  he 
returned  to  Canada  as  the  Chief  Engineer  on  the  St.  Law- 
rence Ship  Canal,  and  the  Consulting  Engineer  on  the 
Welland  Canal,  between  Lakes  Erie  and  Ontario. 

During  this  year  he  was  also  appointed,  by  Governor 
Marcy  of  New  York,  to  survey  the  route  for  the  New 
York  and  Erie  Railroad,  under  an  appropriation  from 
the  State,  which  duties  occupied  him  mainly  until  eight- 
een hundred  and  thirty-six, 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-five  he  was  called  by 
the  authorities  of  Cuba  to  visit  Havana,  and  advise  in 
relation  to  a  railroad  from  that  city  to  the  interior  of  the 


72  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

island.  The  preliminary  surveys  of  this  work  were  care- 
fully examined  and  approved  by  him,  and  its  subsequent 
execution  was  afterwards  continued  under  the  superinten- 
dence of  his  son,  Benjamin  H.  Wright,  civil  engineer,  and 
Alfred  Cruger,  Esq.,  an  engineer  of  experience,  the  for- 
mer of  whom  had  previously  visited  Cuba  for  the  purpose, 
and  succeeded  in  inciting  the  authorities  to  the  first  step 
to  improvements  of  this  kind  on  that  island. 

When  Judge  Wright's  survey  of  the  New  York  and 
Erie  Railroad  was  completed,  he  was  invited  back  to  Vir- 
ginia, but  with  the  understanding  that  he  should  give 
some  attention  to  other  appointments.  Accordingly,  in 
eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-six  we  4  find  him  Chief  Engi- 
neer on  the  Tioga  and  Chemung  Railroad  ;  and  in  eighteen 
hundred  and  thirty-seven  at  Chicago,  advising  about  the 
canal  from  that  city  to  the  Illinois  river.  With  these 
exceptions,  he  continued  on  the  Virginia  works  for  several 
years,  vigorously  prosecuted  the  enterprises  of  the  Old 
Dominion,  traversing  rivers,  climbing  mountains,  superin- 
tending long  lines  of  works,  and  leading  young  men  in  all 
that  requires  activity  and  energy. 

Judge  Wright  died  in  the  city  of  New  York,  on  the 
twenty-fourth  day  of  August,  eighteen  hundred  and  forty- 
two,  aged  nearly  seventy-two  years,  devoting  the  last 
energies  of  a  well-spent  life  in  extending  and  developing 
the,  as  yet,  half-discovered  resources  of  this  great  Re- 
public, and  leaving  behind  him  a  reputation  of  higher 
value  than  riches,  and  the  respect  and  admiration  of  a 
long  list  of  good  and  great  men. 

There  are  men  who  never  directly  sought  for  power  or 


BENJAMIN  WRIGHT.  73 

place,  who  never  sought  their  own  glory,  who  never 
ceased  from  useful  labors  and  never  devoted  their  honest 
gains  to  vanity  or  vice  ;  the  men  who  have  been  good 
sons,  good  husbands,  good  fathers  and  good  neighbors  ; 
the  men  who  in  all  their  ends  and  labors  have  been  real 
benefactors  to  mankind.  Such  men  are  an  honor  to  any 
nation,  and  to  their  race,  and  in  this  class  the  common 
voice  of  his  countrymen  would  place  the  venerated  name 
of  BENJAMIN  WRIGHT,  THE  SURVEYOR  AND  CIVIL  ENGINEER. 


CANVASS   WHITE, 

CIVIL  ENGINEER. 


CONSPICUOUS  among  the  names  associated  with  the  early 
public  works  of  the  country  stands  that  of  Canvass  White, 
who  was  born  at  Whitestown,  Oneida  County,  New  York, 
on  the  eighth  day  of  September,  seventeen  hundred  and 
ninety.  His  father,  Hugh  White,  a  native  of  Connecticut, 
was  a  lineal  descendant  of  Deacon  John  White,  one  of  the 
first  settlers  of  the  present  city  of  Hartford,  in  the  year 
sixteen  hundred  and  thirty- two.  His  mother  was  also  of 
Puritan  descent,  and  from  this  source  he  derived  those 
traits  of  integrity,  indefatigable  industry,  and  purity  of 
character,  of  which  his  public  life  was  so  distinguished  an 
example.  His  paternal  grandfather  served  during  the 
American  Revolution  as  a  quartermaster,  and  in  that 
capacity,  with  the  self-sacrificing  devotion  of  the  many 
heroes  in  that  first  struggle  of  the  country  for  national 
life,  expended  his  fortune  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
army,  receiving  in  its  stead  Continental  paper  money  that 
became  worthless  in  his  possession. 

Six  years  prior  to  the  birth  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
Hugh  White,  with  a  family,  consisting  of  his  wife,  five 
sons  and  four  daughters,  in  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty- 

74 


.  Ebr  Smarts  Civil  ^MQiTary  Engineers  of. 


CANVASS  WHITE.  75 

four,  while  "the  torch  and  tomahawk  of  the  savage 
were  yet  brandished  on  the  frontier,"  left  his  comfortable 
home  at  Middletown,  Connecticut,  and  removed  to  Oneida 
County,  New  York,  then  an  almost  unbroken  wilderness. 

His  mother,  a  lady  of  delicate  constitution,  unused  to 
the  rough  exposure  incident  to  pioneer  life,  died  when  he 
was  ten  years  of  age.  From  his  mother  he  seems  to  have 
inherited  a  feebleness  of  constitution  that  caused  his  early 
years  to  be  a  constant  struggle  between  disease  and 
health  for  the  mastery.  At  an  early  age  he  began  to 
display  a  talent  for  invention,  and  a  genius  for  improve- 
ments that  resulted  in  the  construction  of  several  domestic, 
and  agricultural  implements,  that  were  in  use  for  many 
years  on  the  paternal  homestead,  and  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. 

The  most  of  his  minority  was  spent  on  his  father's  farm, 
with  such  advantages  only  for  acquiring  education  as  the 
very  limited  common  schools  of  that  period  afforded  ;  and 
it  was  not  until  the  winter  of  eighteen  hundred  and  thir- 
teen that  an  opportunity  occurred  for  him  to  pursue  those 
studies  essential  to  success  in  the  profession  he  had  chosen. 
In  February  of  this  year  he  entered  the  Fairfield  academy, 
and  there  pursued  the  studies  of  mathematics,  astronomy, 
chemistry,  mineralogy  and  surveying,  until  he  completed 
the  course  of  that  institution,  after  which  he  continued  the 
study  of  these  subjects  under  Dr.  Josiah  Noyes,  of  Clinton, 
New  York. 

At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  entered  the  store  of  Colonel 
Carpenter  as  clerk,  where  he  remained  until  the  spring  of 
eighteen  hundred  and  eleven,  during  which  time  he  gained 


76  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

the  entire  confidence  of  his  employer  and  became  a 
general  favorite  with  all  his  acquaintances.  At  this 
time  his  health  becoming  precarious,  a  sea-voyage  was 
advised  as  a  means  of  restoration.  He  consequently 
shipped  as  supercargo  on  board  a  merchant  vessel  bound 
to  Russia,  and  did  not  return  to  his  home  until  October, 
eighteen  hundred  and  twelve.  The  Captain,  while  in 
Russia,  remained  ignorant  of  the  declaration  of  war  and 
commencement  of  hostilities  between  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain,  and  took  in  an  assorted  cargo,  and 
sailed  for  Hull,  in  England.  He  did  not  become  aware 
of  the  war  until  they  entered  the  English  port,  and  were 
made  prisoners,  and  their  ship  and  its  cargo  seized. 

For  some  reason  unexplained  the  Captain  and  crew, 
however,  were  released,  permitted  to  discharge  their  ship, 
take  in  another  lading  and  continue  their  homeward  voyage. 

The  ship  had  scarcely  cleared  the  mouth  of  the  Humber 
when  there  occurred  a  violent  storm,  accompanied  by  a 
high  tide,  and  they  were  driven  so  far  ashore  that  when 
the  tide  receded  the  ship  lay  sixty  rods  from  the  sea.  As 
the  vessel  lay  on  its  side,  an  inspection  of  the  bottom 
disclosed  the  fact  that  the  planking,  over  considerable  of 
the  surface,  was  completely  rotten,  and  that  she  was 
utterly  unseaworthy.  Young  White  advised  that  the 
rotten  plank  be  stripped  off  and  replaced  by  sound  ones, 
and  a  channel  opened  through  the  sand  that  would  admit 
the  tide  to  the  stranded  ship.  Work  was  at  once  com- 
menced, and  a  very  few  days  saw  the  ship  that  was  about 
to  be  abandoned  by  her  Captain  and  crew,  re-planked, 
again  afloat,  and  on  her  way  to  New  York,  where  she 
arrived  in  the  latter  part  of  September. 


CANVASS  WHITE.  77 

His  health  was  materially  improved  by  the  voyage,  and 
on  his  return  he  again  entered  the  employ  of  his  former 
patron  and  friend,  Col.  Carpenter,  where  he  remained 
until  the  spring  of  eighteen  hundred  and  fourteen,  when, 
having  raised  a  company  of  volunteers,  he  received  a 
commission  as  Lieutenant  in  Colonel  Dodge's  regiment, 
and  took  part  in  the  assault  and  capture  of  Fort  Erie; 
opposite  Buffalo.  While  in  occupation  of  the  Fort,  with 
his  command,  he  was  severely  wounded  by  a  shell  fired 
from  the  enemy's  redoubt  half  a  mile  distant ;  soon  after 
his  recovery  an  opportunity  occurred  for  revenging  him- 
self on  the  enemy.  A  reconnoitering  party  from  the 
British  camp  was  discovered  in  an  adjacent  wood,  and 
Lieutenant  White  was  sent  with  his  command  to  capture 
or  disperse  them.  He  succeeded  in  capturing  the  whole 
party,  killing  and  wounding  several  before  they  surren- 
dered. He  remained  with  his  regiment  until  the  expira- 
tion of  their  term  of  service,  when  he  returned  home,  and 
resumed  his  studies,  as  previously  mentioned. 

In  the  spring  of  eighteen  hundred  and  sixteen  Judge 
Benjamin  Wright  was  forming  a  corps  for  prosecuting  the 
surveys  of  the  Erie  Canal.  Mr.  White  solicited  a  posi- 
tion, and  was  engaged  by  Judge  Wright  as  one  of  his 
assistants.  During  this  and  the  succeeding  season  he  was 
employed  in  taking  the  levels  westward  from  Rome.  In 
this  duty  he  acquitted  himself  so  well  that  he  very 
soon  won  the  esteem  of  the  Chief  Engineer,  between  whom 
and  himself  ever  afterward  there  existed  a  firm  and  un- 
broken friendship.  About  this  time  he  made  the  acquain- 
tance of  Governor  De  Witt  Clinton,  who  was  highly 


78  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

pleased  with  his  personal  qualities  and  professional 
abilities. 

At  this  early  day  the  knowledge  of  canal  construction 
among  the  engineers  of  the  country  was  very  limited,  and 
Mr.  White,  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  Governor  Clinton, 
determined  to  visit  England  for  the  purpose  of  examining 
the  public  works  of  that  country,  and  procuring  the  most 
improved  instruments  in  use. 

In  the  autumn  of  eighteen  hundred  and  seventeen  Mr. 
White  carried  out  his  determination,  and  made  a  careful 
examination  of  the  canals  in  the  United  Kingdom,  travel- 
ling for  this  purpose  more  than  two  thousand  miles  on  foot. 
He  returned  in  the  following  spring,  bringing  surveying 
instruments  and  accurate  drawings  of  the  most  important 
structures  on  those  works,  and  much  valuable  information 
for  the  benefit  of  the  State  in  the  construction  of  its 
canals.  About  the  time  of  his  return  there  was  much  dis- 
cussion on  the  subject  of  lock  construction,  some  favor- 
ing wood,  and  others  stone,  or  a  combination  of  the 
two.  It  was,  however,  finally  decided  to  build  stone 
locks,  using  quick-lime  mortar  for  the  masonry,  and 
pointing  the  joints  with  hydraulic  cement,  then  imported 
at  a  great  cost  from  England.  Soon  after,  Mr.  White 
discovered  a  valuable  lime  rock  near  the  route  of  the 
canal  in  Madison  County,  which,  after  repeated  experi- 
ments, he  converted  into  a  cement,  equal  to  the  imported, 
and  at  much  less  cost  to  the  State.  For  this  discovery  he 
obtained  a  patent,  but  permitted  its  use  under  the  promise 
of  the  Canal  Commissioners  that  a  just  compensation 
should  be  allowed,  not  only  for  it,  but  for  his  expenses  and 


CANVASS  WHITE.  Y9 

services  while  abroad.  The  Commissioners,  however, 
failed  to  obtain  the  necessary  authority  from  the  Legisla- 
ture to  fulfil  their  promise,  notwithstanding  the  recom- 
mendations of  the  Governor  and  other  officers  of  the 
State,  as  evidenced  in  the  following  extracts  from  official 
documents : 

Governor  De  Witt  Clinton,  in  a  letter  to  a  committee 
of  the  Legislature  in  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-four, 
states,  "That  Mr.  White  had  been  of  great  use  in  his 
operations  as  an  engineer ;  and  that  his  skill,  industry, 
and  integrity'  in  that  department  furnish  strong  recom- 
mendations to  the  favorable  notice  of  the  State."  Judge 
Wright  stated  before  the  same  committee,  "  That  hydrau- 
lic lime  had  been  generally  used  along  the  canal  since 
eighteen  hundred  and  eighteen,  and  part  of  eighteen 
hundred  and  nineteen,  in  which  year,  after  much  persua- 
sion by  the  engineers,  it  was  used  in  all  face  work  of  locks 
and  arches,  the  backing  being  laid  in  common  lime. 
When  common  lime  was  used  it  gave  evidence  of  soon 
failing.  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  the  discovery 
of  hydraulic  cement  by  Mr.  White  has  been  of  incalcu- 
lable benefit  to  the  State,  and  that  it  is  a  discovery  which 
ought,  in  justice,  to  be  handsomely  remunerated."  Mr. 
Flagg  reported  from  the  same  committee  that  Mr.  White, 
a  principal  engineer,  had  made  this  discovery  after 
repeated  experiments,  and  received  a  patent  in  eighteen 
hundred  and  twenty.  That  Mr.  White  introduced  it  at 
great  expense  amidst  the  doubts  and  fears  which  operate 
against  its  use." 

The  Canal  Commissioners,  in  their  report  of  February, 


80  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

eighteen  hundred  and  twenty,  state  that,  "They  have 
employed  exploring  parties  in  both  the  western  and  east- 
ern sections.  Between  the  Seneca  and  G-enesee  rivers 
Canvass  White,  Engineer,  has  had  the  charge  of  a  party, 
which  has  been  engaged  for  several  months  in  levelling 
over*  and  surveying  different  routes  for  the  canal  line. 
These  labors  he  has  performed  much  to  our  satisfaction, 
and  having  presented  a  view  of  them  to  a  meeting  of  our 
Board  held  in  October,  at  Utica,  we  thereupon  decided  in 
favor  of  the  route  originally  explored  between  these  rivers 
in  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  sixteen."  The  canal 
through,  and  eight  miles  east  of  Utica,  was  completed  in 
the  fall  of  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty,  Canvass  White 
being  the  Resident  Engineer.  In  eighteen  hundred  and 
twenty-one  Messrs.  Wright  (principal)  and  White  (acting), 
engineers,  explored  the  country  thoroughly  from  Little 
Falls  to  the  Hudson,  and  pronounced  impracticable  the 
route  from  Schenectady  connecting  with  the  Hudson  at 
Albany,  and  located  the  line  via  Cohoes  and  Troy. 
This  location  was  finally  fixed  upon  by  Messrs.  Wright, 
Greddes,  and  White.  Early  in  the  spring  of  eighteen 
hundred  and  twenty-two  Canvass  White  was  sent 
to  lay  out  the  Glens  Falls  feeder,  and  in  that  year  he 
planned  and  directed  the  building  of  the  lock  and  dam 
between  Troy  and  Waterford,  until  the  eighth  of  June, 
when  William  Jerome  took  charge. 

Judge  Wright,  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Hosack,  of  December, 
eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-eight,  says:  "Here  it  is 
proper  that  I  should  render  a  just  tribute  of  merit  to  a 
.gentleman  who  now  stands  high  in  his  profession,  and 


CANVASS  WHITE.  81 

whose  skill  and  sound  judgment,  as  a  civil  engineer,  is  not 
surpassed,  if  equalled,  by  any  other  in  the  United  States. 
The  gentleman  to  whom  I  refer  is  Canvass  White,  Esq., 
who  commenced  as  my  pupil  in  eighteen  hundred  and 
sixteen,  by  carrying  the  target ;  he  took  an  active  part 
through  that  year,  and  through  eighteen  hundred  and 
seventeen.  In  the  fall  of  the  latter  year  he  made  a 
voyage  to  England  on  his  own  account,  and  purchased  for 
the  State  several  levelling  instruments,  of  which  we  stood 
much  in  need.  He  returned  in  the  spring,  and  brought 
with  him  much  valuable  information,  which  he  has  use- 
fully developed,  greatly  to  the  benefit  of  the  State  of 
New  York.  To  this  gentleman  I  could  always  apply  for 
counsel  and  advice  in  any  great  or  difficult  case,  and  to 
his  sound  judgment  in  locating  the  line  of  the  canal,  in 
much  of  the  difficult  part  of  the  route,  the  people  of  this 
State  are  under  obligations  greater  than  is  generally 
known  or  appreciated." 

Simon  Guilford,  Civil  Engineer,  in  a  letter  to  the 
author,  dated  Lebanon,  Pennsylvania,  December,  eighteen 
hundred  and  sixty-nine,  writes  :  li  In  reply  to  your  letter 
relating  to  the  late  Canvass  White,  C.  E.,  I  presume  you 
will  obtain,  through  others,  a  more  extended  and  con- 
nected history,  than  I  am  able  to  give  you.  I  will, 
however,  relate  an  instance  of  his  prompt  decision  and 
energy,  which  occurred  upon  the  Erie  Canal  at  a  time 
when  I  was  serving  him  as  assistant.  When  that  portion 
of  the  canal,  along  the  Mohawk  river,  between  Little 
Falls  and  Canajoharie  was  completed,  and  the  supply  of 
water  was  turned  in,  owing  to  a  very  porous  soil  over 


82  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

which  a  considerable  portion  of  the  canal  was  made,  the 
supply  proved  inadequate,  which  was  fully  realized  as  the 
first  boat  passed,  containing  the  Canal  Commissioners,  the 
principal  Engineer,  Benjamin  Wright,  and  others.  The 
question  arose  as  to  how  the  difficulty  was  to  be  over- 
come. Mr.  White  replied,  "A  feeder  must  be  obtained 
from  the  river  at  this  place "  (a  few  miles  above  Fort 
Plain),  and  on  being  asked  how  long  it  would  take  to 
build  a  dam  across  the  river,  nine  hundred  feet  long,  so  as 
to  raise  the  water  nine  feet  above  the  ordinary  surface,  he 
replied,  11A  few  weeks." 

The  dam  was  completed  in  sixty  days,  inclusive  of  a 
side-cut  and  bridge  connected  with  it.  Trees  were  cut 
and  taken  whole,  the  trunk  with  the  tops,  from  timber 
land  near,  and  placed,  with  the  butts  down  the  stream  in 
parallel  rows  ;  the  limbs  were  cut  partly  through  so  that 
they  were  made  to  conform  closely  in  line  with  the 
trunks,  and  the  cavities  filled  with  rocks  and  coarse 
gravel.  The  trees  thus  forming  the  main  portion  of  the 
dam  were  weighed  down  and  compacted  by  a  heavy 
covering  of  stone  material.  With  the  trunks  of  the  lower 
tiers  of  the  trees  left  to  protrude  out  several  feet  from 
under  the  lower  slope  of  the  dam,  an  apron  or  platform 
was  formed,  which  served  as  a  protection  from  an  under 
washing  of  the  gravel  foundation. 

Mr.  White's  professional  success,  scrupulous  integrity, 
and  modest  demeanor,  in  all  transactions  of  life,  won  for 
him  the  enduring  esteem  of  all  with  whom  he  was  associ- 
ated. For  these  admirable  qualities  of  mind  and  heart, 
he  became  widely  known,  and,  as  a  consequence,  frequent 


CANVASS  WHITE.  83 

and  urgent  offers  were  tendered  him  for  engineering 
service  in  other  States.  He,  however,  continued  in  the 
active  discharge  of  his  duties  as  engineer  on  the  Erie 
Canal,  until  it  was  so  nearly  completed,  that  his  place 
could  be  supplied  from  his  assistant  engineers,  when  he 
succeeded  Loammi  Baldwin  as  Chief  Engineer  on  the 
Union  Canal  of  Pennsylvania.  He  continued  in  that 
position  until  the  latter  part  of  the  summer  of  eighteen 
hundred  and  twenty-six,  when,  in  consequence  of  a  severe 
illness,  contracted  while  conducting  the  surveys  of  the 
canal  west  of  the  Susquehannah  river,  he  returned  to 
Philadelphia,  and  resigned  his  connection  with  the 
Company. 

The  distinguished  Civil  Engineer,  W.  Milnor  Roberts,  in 
a  letter  to  the  author,  dated  St.  Louis,  December,  eighteen 
hundred  and  sixty-nine,  writes  :  "I  recollect  the  first  in- 
terview with  Canvass  White,  which  took  place  in  the  office 
of  the  Union  Canal  Company,  in  Philadelphia.  Samuel 
Mifflin  was  the  President,  and  my  father,  Thomas  P.  Rob- 
erts, was,  for  many  years,  the  Treasurer  of  the  Company. 
In  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-three  and  four,  Mr.  Miff- 
lin  had  a  controversy  with  Loammi  Baldwin,  who  was  at 
the  time  the  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Company,  which  result- 
ed in  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Baldwin,  and  the  appoint- 
ment of  Canvass  White  to  fill  the  vacancy.  During  the 
controversy,  a  long  and  important  paper  written  by  Mr. 
Mifflin,  was  intrusted  to  me  to  be  copied.  Curiosity  led 
me  to  interest  myself  in  the  matter  under  discussion,  and 
in  studying  the  paper  I  detected  what  seemed  to  me 
to  be  an  erroneous  statement,  to  which,  through  my 


84  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

father,  I  called  Mr.  Mifflin's  attention,  who  expressed  him- 
self under  great  obligations,  as  it  proved  to  be  important. 
He  urged  my  father  to  make  an  engineer  of  me  ;  and  he 
spoke  to  Mr.  White  after  he  had  taken  charge  of  the 
canal ;  and  some  time  afterward,  when  Mr.  White  visited 
the  office  in  Philadelphia,  I  was  sent  for  to  meet  him.  His 
first  remark  was :  '  He  is  very  small,  do  you  think  he 
could  stand  rough  and  tumble  engineering?'  The  inter- 
view ended  with  instructions  to  me  to  go  up  the  Schuyl- 
kill  Navigation  on  board  of  a  canal  boat,  and  on  arriving 
at  Reading,  to  inquire  for  Mr.  Olmstead,  at  the  Engineer's 
office.  This  I  did,  and  in  a  few  days  I  met  Mr.  White  in 
Reading,  who  took  me  with  him  in  the  Company's  two- 
horse  wagon  on  a  tour  along  the  line,  visiting  the  works 
then  in  the  course  of  construction.  This  was  in  the 
spring  of  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-five.  Mr.  Olm- 
stead who  had  charge  of  the  eastern  division,  accom- 
panied Mr.  White  to  the  end  of  his  division,  where  he 
met  Mr.  Guilford,  who  was  in  charge  of  the  middle  di- 
vision. Soon  after  Mr.  Guilford  met  us,  we  came  to  one 
of  his  locks,  nearly  finished,  concerning  which,  after  tak- 
ing a  good  look  at  it,  I  made  my  first  engineering  re- 
mark, as  follows  :  '  Why  !  Mr.  White,  don't  you  think 
that  this  lock  is  too  small?'  He  smiled,  saying  blandly  : 
1  I  guess  its  large  enough.'  Mr.  Guilford  said  nothing  at 
the  time,  but  afterwards,  when  we  had  arrived  at  his 
headquarters  in  Lebanon,  he  said  to  me  :  '  Don't  you 
know  that  Mr.  White  advocated  the  small  locks  for  this 
canal,  coinciding  with  Mr.  Mifflin  in  opposition  to  Mr. 
Baldwin?  You  must  be  careful  about  what  you  say 


CANVASS  WHITE.  85 

about  small  locks/  I  was  young  and  inexperienced,  and 
my  remark  became  a  by-word  with,  the  young  engineers 
amongst  ourselves.  I  had  then  seen  only  two  canals — the 
James  River  Canal  in  Virginia,  and  the  Schuylkill  Navi- 
gation ;  the  locks  of  which  were  seventeen  feet  wide  and 
about  ninety  feet  long  ;  whereas  the  Union  Canal  locks 
were  only  eight  and  one  half  feet  wide,  and  seventy-five 
feet  long ;  the  design  being  that  two  boats  from  the 
Union  Canal  should  pass  at  one  time  through  the  locks 
of  the  Schuylkill  Navigation.  I  may  remark  that  I  have 
now  no  doubt  that  the  adoption  of  so  small  a  canal 
and  locks  for  the  Union  Canal,  was  an  error.  There 
had  been  precedents  for  such  small  canals  in  England  ; 
but  I  think  that  the  reasoning  which  determined  the  size 
in  the  case  of  the  Union  Canal,  on  account  of  the  small 
supply  of  water,  was  inadequate,  if  not  fallacious.  Many 
years  after  its  first  construction,  it  was  enlarged  under 
the  engineering  superintendence  of  my  friend,  Colonel 
James  Worrall.  I  send  with  this  my  old  descrip- 
tion of  the  'Union  Canal,7  and  of  the  '  Lehigh  Naviga- 
tion/ copied  from  my  common-place  book  of  eighteen 
hundred  and  twenty-nine  and  thirty.7'* 

"My  official  or  professional  connection  with  Mr.  White 
ended  in  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-one.77 

"Canvass  White,  in  his  day,  stood  at  the  head  of 
American  Canal  Engineers,  and  his  strength  lay  in  his 
cool,  practical  judgment.  He  had  no  experience  in  rail- 
road engineering,  so  far  as  I  ever  knew.  He  was  a  gen- 
tleman of  very  quiet  manners,  equal  temper,  and  kind 

*  For  a  synopsis  of  the  description  referred  to,  see  Appendix. 


86  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

disposition.  I  never  knew  him  ruffled,  or  impatient. 
His  wife  was  a  lady  of  great  beauty,  and  they  had  a  son, 
a  fine  boy  when  I  knew  him,  whom  I  afterwards  lost 
sight  of,  who  became  an  engineer." 

During  the  time  Mr.  White  was  engaged  as  Chief  En- 
gineer of  the  Union  Canal,  he  was  called  to  New  York 
for  the  purpose  of  examining  the  sources  of  supply  for 
pure  and  wholesome  water  for  the  city.  He  reported  to 
the  Mayor  and  Aldermen,  that,  for  the  present  need  of  tKe 
city,  and  its  probable  requirements  for  twenty  years 
thereafter,  a  sufficient  supply  could  be  obtained  from  the 
Rye  pond  and  the  Bronx  river,  in  "Westchester  County, 
u  but  after  the  city  should  extend  to  one-third  the  surface 
of  Manhattan  Island,  it  would  be  necessary  to  add  the 
Croton  river  to  their  other  resources."  The  report  was 
accompanied  with  full  details,  and  strongly  impressed  the 
city  government  with  the  importance  and  feasibility  of 
the  project. 

The  comprehensive  nature  of  his  mind,  through  which, 
at  a  glance,  he  grasped  the  salient  points  of  a  subject, 
and  his  systematic  habit  in  arranging  details,  enabled 
him  to  accomplish  an  extraordinary  amount  of  profes- 
sional work.  While  engaged  upon  the  two  last  mention- 
ed enterprises,  he  was  solicited  to  take  charge  of  the 
works  of  the  Schuylkill  Navigation  Company  (the  Engi- 
neer having  suddenly  died),  which  was  then  in  the  course 
of  construction.  After  making  a  rapid  survey  of  the 
ground,  and  the  plans  of  the  Company,  he  suggested 
alterations,  and  recommended  the  employment  of  Captain 
Beach  as  their  Chief  j  he  continuing  as  Consulting  Engi- 


CANVASS  WHITE.  87 

neer,  until  the  work  was  completed.  At  this  time  he  was 
also  Consulting  Engineer  for  the  Delaware  and  Chesa- 
peake Canal,  Judge  Benjamin  Wright  being  the  Chief 
Engineer. 

The  success  and  reported  profits  of  the  Erie  Canal  gave 
an  impetus  to  canal  construction  in  that  day,  that  would 
have  resulted  in  a  system  of  artificial  internal  navigation 
as  universal  as  our  present  railroad  system,  could  the 
capital  necessary  for  the  purpose  have  been  obtained. 
Projects  were  started  in  various  parts  of  the  Union,  and 
a  pressing  demand  was  made  upon  the  time  of  the  few 
engineers  then  in  the  country. 

The  citizens  of  Hartford  conceived  the  project  of  im- 
proving the  navigation  of  the  Connecticut  river,  and  the 
Windsor  Locks  were  built  by  Mr.  White  as  Chief  Engi- 
neer. Careful  financial  men  were  led  away  by  the  pre- 
vailing spirit  of  the  time,  and  large  amounts  were  ex- 
pended upon  impracticable  enterprises. 

Amongst  these  was  the  Farmington  Canal,  constructed 
from  New  Haven  to  Farmington,  and  thence  up  the 
Farmington  river,  "  as  Aoney  could  be  found  to  prose- 
cute the  work."  Mr.  White  was  applied  to  for  plans  and 
surveys,  and  for  an  opinion  of  the  value  of  it  when  com- 
pleted ;  the  former  of  which  he  furnished,  and  remained 
Consulting  Engineer  during  the  construction  of  the  work. 
However,  he  frequently  expressed  to  Mr.  Hillhouse,  one 
of  the  chief  promoters  of  the  enterprise,  an  opinion  ad- 
verse to  the  success  of  the  canal  as  a  financial  investment. 
The  capacity  of  th6  canal  proved  to  be  far  greater  than 
the  requirements  for  its  construction. 


88  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty -five,  the  traffic  in  coal 
from  Mauch  Chunk  to  Philadelphia  had  increased  to  such 
an  extent  that  the  Lehigh  Coal  and  Navigation  Company 
(who  were  bringing  down  the  products  of  its  mines  in 
arks),  finding  its  means  insufficient  to  supply  the  increas- 
ing demand  for  coal,  concluded  to  improve  the  naviga- 
tion of  the  Lehigh  river,  and  to  ask  the  State  of  Penn- 
sylvania to  construct  a  canal  along  the  margin  of  the 
Delaware  river  from  Easton  to  navigable  waters  below. 
Josiah  White,  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  an 
energetic  man,  whose  practical  common  sense  and  sound 
judgment  enabled  him  to  comprehend  men  and  measures 
with  much  precision,  was  Superintendent  of  the  affairs  of 
the  Company,  and  constructed  at  Maunch  Chunk  a  wide 
basin  for  boats,  and  one  mile  of  canal,  in  which  were  five 
locks.  The  work  remained  in  this  condition  until  the 
spring  of  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-seven,  when  Can- 
vass White,  having  regained  his  health,  was  appointed 
Chief  Engineer,  and  the  work  was  resumed  and  prose- 
cuted with  such  diligence  that  the  first  boat  passed 
through  the  canal  in  July,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty- 
nine.  At  that  time  the  Lehigh  Canal  was  the  most 
capacious  work  of  the  kind  yet  undertaken  in  the  country, 
and  was  considered  a  bold  project. 

The  engineers  under  Mr.  White,  were  W.  Milnor  Rob- 
erts in  charge  of  the  western,  A.  B.  Warford  the  middle, 
and  John  Hopkins  the  eastern  division. 

During  the  summer  of  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty- 
five,  Mr.  White  was  appointed  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Del- 
aware and  Raritan  Canal.  He  organized  a  party  for 


CANVASS  WHITE.  89 

preliminary  surveys,  and  placed  it  under  the  immediate 
charge  of  John  Hopkins,  one  of  his  most  trusted  assist- 
ants. This  work  was  discontinued  late  in  the  fall,  after 
the  location  of  about  twelve  miles,  and  was  not  resumed 
again  until  the  spring  of  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty -one. 

The  construction  of  the  canal  from  the  Delaware  to  the 
Raritan  river  was  attended  by  many  difficulties,  and  met 
many  obstructions,  all  of  which  were  successfully  over- 
come. In  the  prosecution  of  this  important  work,  Mr. 
White  always  acknowledged  with  becoming  gratitude  the 
generous  and  wise  counsel  of  Commodore  Robert  F. 
Stockton,  who  took  an  active  interest  in  the  success  of 
the  enterprise. 

In  the  autumn  of  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-four, 
when  this  work  was  nearly  completed,  his  health  was  so 
much  impaired  that  his  physician  advised  him  to  seek  a 
more  genial  climate,  with  a  probable  hope  of  seeing  him 
restored  to  health  and  usefulness.  He  sailed  soon  after 
for  St.  Augustine,  Florida,  where  he  died  within  a  month 
after  his  arrival  at  that  place.  His  remains  were  returned 
to  New  Jersey,  and  lie  buried  in  the  church-yard  at 
Princeton,  where  his  family  resided  at  the  time  of  his 
death. 

Mr.  White  was  personally  popular  with  all  who  were 
favored  with  his  acquaintance.  General  Bernard,  a 
French  engineer  in  the  service  of  the  United  States,  re- 
marked of  him,  "that  as  a  civil  engineer  he  had  no 
superior  ;  his  genius  and  ingenuity  were  of  a  surprising 
magnitude  ;  his  mild  and  gentle  ways,  his  sweet  and 
amiable  temper,  modest  and  retiring  manners  won  his 


90  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

heart ;  he  loved  him  very  much,  exceedingly."  Henry 
Clay  remarked,  when  speaking  of  him  to  a  gentleman 
who  was  seeking  an  engineer  for  the  construction  of  the 
Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Canal:  "  Gret  Canvass  White;  no 
man  is  more  competent,  no  man  more  capable;  and  while 
your  faith  in  his  ability  and  fidelity  increases,  your  friend- 
ship will  grow  into  affection." 

In  a  letter  from  the  late  Hon.  Hugh  White,  of  Cohoes, 
New  York,  of  July,  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty,  he  says  : 
"My  brother,  Canvass  White,  was  in  stature  five  feet 
nine  arid  one-half  inches  ;  lightly  made,  weighing  from 
one  hundred  and  forty-five  to  one  hundred  and  sixty-five 
pounds  ;  light  complexion,  light  brown  hair,  blue  eyes, 
wonderfully  clear  and  bright ;  inclining  slightly  forward 
from  a  perpendicular  when  walking  or  standing.  Grave 
and  thoughtful  expression,  yet  full  of  affection  and  kind- 
ness, a  broad  intellectual  forehead  and  well-shaped  nose, 
and  with  a  trifle  more  of  flesh  would  have  been  an  un- 
usually fine-looking  man.  The  most  prominent  and  strik- 
ing feature  in  the  general  contour  of  the  person,  was  an 
unmistakable  impress  of  genius,  modesty  and  amiability. 
In  conversation,  you  could  not  escape  the  conviction  that 
what  he  said  he  was  sure  of,  and  left  the  impression  in- 
delibly upon  those  he  desired  to  convince  of  the  truth  or 
feasibility  of  any  plan  or  project  he  had  in  contempla- 
tion." 


DAVID   STANHOPE  BATES, 

SURVEYOR  AND  CIVIL  ENGINEER. 


PROMINENT  among  the  distinguished  pioneer  engineers 
of  America  stands  honored  and  admired  the  name  of 
David  Stanhope  Bates,  who  first  won  a  reputation  for  his 
professional  skill,  untiring  energy,  indomitable  perseve- 
rance, sound  judgment,  and  exemplary  industry,  as  the 
principal  engineer  of  one  of  the  important  divisions  of 
the  Erie  Canal. 

Thomas  Bates,  the  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  was  a  native  of  Wales,  and  one  of  a  family  of  ten 
brothers  and  two  sisters,  and  was  an  early  settler  of  the 
State  of  New  Jersey.  One  of  the  brothers,  John,  was 
killed  at  Oswego,  New  York,  during  the  French  war. 
The  other  brothers  settled  in  the  New  England  States. 

David  Stanhope  Bates  was  born  at  the  homestead  farm, 
midway  between  Morristown  and  Parsippan,  on  the  tenth 
of  June,  seventeen  hundred  and  seventy-seven.  His 
father,  David  Bates,  possessed  strong  mental  qualifica- 
tions, improved  by  careful  study  and  deep  thought,  and 
was  of  the  medium  height,  with  a  compact,  muscular 
frame.  He  married,  in  seventeen  hundred  and  sixty, 
Miss  Tappan,  of  Morristown,  an  accomplished  lady,  of 

91 


92  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

quiet  and  winning  manners.  During  the  Revolutionary 
"War  he  was  an  officer  under  General  Washington,  and 
returned  to  his  home  only  when  peace  was  restored. 

David  Stanhope  was  intended  by  his  father  for  the 
ministry.  After  the  advantages  of  a  good  English  school, 
he  passed  through  a  course  of  academic  instructions 
under  the  tuition  of  Rev.  Mr.  Whelpley,  in  New  Jersey. 
Upon  completing  this  course,  he  was  placed  under  the 
care  and  tutelage  of  the  celebrated  Rev.  Dr.  Witherspoon, 
with  whom  he  remained  many  years,  until  he  became  an 
excellent  classical  scholar.  Notwithstanding  his  reverence 
for  his  preceptor,  and  his  respect  for  the  profession,  his 
mathematical  talents  inclined  him  to  other  pursuits,  and 
he  abandoned  the  study  of  theology  ;  but  to  its  influence 
upon  his  youthful  mind,  and  to  the  careful  instruction  of 
Dr.  Witherspoon,  he  was  indebted  for  the  moral  influence 
that  governed  every  action  of  his  after  life. 

Upon  relinquishing  the  profession  chosen  for  him,  he 
entered  the  store  of  his  elder  brother  as  clerk,  pursuing 
meanwhile  the  study  of  mathematics.  He  married,  in 
seventeen  hundred  and  ninety-nine,  Sarah  Johnson 
Gould,  daughter  of  Timothy  and  Susan  Baldwin  Gould, 
of  Caldwell,  New  Jersey,  and  sister  of  Hon.  E.  Baldwin 
Gould,  of  St.  Augustine,  Florida.  He  soon  after  com- 
menced the  mercantile  business  at  Parsippan. 

In  the  vicinity  of  this  village  stood  the  veritable  house 
of  "  Old  G-rimes,"  with  its  "semicircular  garden  fenced 
round  with  poles"  and  at  the  gate  of  which  young  Bates 
often  stopped  to  talk  with  the  t '  good  old  man  "  as  he  sat 
at  his  door.  This  is  mentioned  because  of  the  modern 


DAVID  STANHOPE  BATES.  93 

belief  that  the  hero  of  the  song  of  "  Old  Grimes  is  Dead  " 
was  a  myth.  Not  so  !  He  really  existed  ;  and  the 
author  of  the  quaint  verses  that  have  been  sung  from  the 
"  Granite  Hills  to  Texas/'  was  a  shoemaker  of  Morris- 
town. 

In  this  new  home  a  period  of  comparative  prosperity 
and  happiness  succeeded  his  years  of  study,  until  the 
autumn  of  eighteen  hundred  and  ten,  when  young  Bates 
accepted  an  offer  from  Mr.  George  Scriba,  a  wealthy  land 
proprietor  from  Scotland,  to  survey  and  sell  a  large  tract 
of  land  in  Oneida  County,  New  York.  He  accordingly 
removed  with  his  family  to  a  little  settlement,  now 
known  as  Constantia,  on  the  Oneida  Lake. 

In  the  summer  of  this  year,  Governor  De  Witt  Clinton 
"and  his  associates,  the  first  Canal  Commissioners,  exam- 
ined the  valley  of  the  Mohawk  and  the  western  part  of 
the  State  of  New  York,  for  the  purpose  of  learning  the 
practicability  of  constructing  a  canal  from  the  Hudson  to 
the  Lakes.7'  Passing  around  the  Oneida  Lake  he  arrived 
on  the  fourteenth  of  July,  with  his  party,  at  this  little  vil- 
lage, which  he  describes  in  his  diary  as  "  Rotterdam,  a 
decayed  settlement  of  George  Scriba,  situated  eleven 
miles  from  the  outlet,  containing  eight  or  ten  houses,  and 
marks  of  premature  growth."  This  now  beautifully  cul- 
tivated portion  of  New  York  State,  was  then  almost  a 
wilderness  ;  a  remnant  of  the  Oneida  tribe  of  Indians  yet 
lingered  in  the  forests,  but  they  were  peaceful  and  fond 
of  the  villagers  when  umolested  by  them. 

The  establishment  of  extensive  Iron  Works  at  Rotter- 
dam, about  this  period,  by  wealthy  Eastern  parties, 


94  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

attracted  a  better  emigration  thither,  and  the  decayed 
settlement  revived  under  the  influence. 

The  excellent  business  qualifications  of  Mr.  Bates  en- 
hanced his  usefulness  in  the  community,  while,  with  his 
well-cultivated  intellect,  he  contributed  to  the  improve- 
ment of  all  around  him;  with  ready  tact  he  adapted  his 
method  of  action  to  the  surrounding  elements,  and  while 
beloved  by  his  brother  pioneers,  he  was  revered  and  re- 
spected by  the  rude  and  uncultivated.  He  accepted  an 
appointment  of  Superintendent  of  the  Iron  "Works,  pur- 
suing at  the  same  time  his  favorite  occupation  of  survey- 
ing, when  his  services  were  required.  His  evenings  were 
devoted  to  the  study  of  law,  and  he  became  a  good  coun- 
sellor. Subsequently  he  was  appointed  Judge  of  the 
Common  Pleas  of  Oneida  County. 

The  house  of  Judge  Bates,  overlooking  the  Oneida 
Lake,  was  nestled  in  a  grove  of  native  hemlock,  tall  pines, 
and  other  forest  trees.  The  spot  selected  was  singularly 
wild,  yet  very  beautiful,  and  there,  unfettered  and  reck- 
less as  the  Indian  children  with  whom  they  played,  was 
passed  the  early  boyhood  of  his  three  sons,  John,  Timothy 
and  David,  who  afterward  became  distinguished  engineers 
in  the  service  of  the  State  of  Ohio. 

Judge  Bates  continued  his  various  avocations  at  Rot- 
terdam until  the  spring  of  eighteen  hundred  and  seven- 
teen, when  he  applied  to  Judge  Benjamin  Wright,  whom 
he  had  long  assisted  in  surveys,  for  employment,  and  re- 
ceived from  him  the  appointment  of  Assistant  Engineer 
on  the  middle  division  of  the  Erie  Canal. 

Judge  Bates  continued  in  the  employ  of  the  State  as 


DAVID  STANHOPE  BATES.  95 

Division  Engineer,  under  Benjamin  Wright,  from  eighteen 
hundred  and  eighteen  to  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty- 
four  mainly  in  charge  of  the  construction  of  the  impor- 
tant work  across  the  Irondequoit  Yalley,  the  aqueduct 
over  the  Genessee  river  at  Rochester,  and  the  combined 
locks  at  Lockport. 

The  great  and  constant  anxiety  of  Judge  Wright, 
respecting  the  proper  construction  of  these  difficult  works, 
and  his  high  estimation  of  the  judgment,  skill,  and  integ- 
rity of  Judge  Bates,  are  manifested  in  the  following  ex- 
tracts selected  from  letters,  written  by  the  Engineer-m- 
Chief: 

"  So  far  as  I  understand  your  plan  of  the  aqueduct  at 
Irondequoit,  it  appears  to  be  correct.  I  pray  you  to  see 
that  the  piles  are  well  and  faithfully  driven.  It  is  all 
important  to  the  safety  of  the  whole  work  that  there 
should  be  no  settling  nor  any  precariousness,  as  you  know 
that  would  destroy  all  instantly.  I  am  glad  to  hear  of 
your  experiment  of  trying  the  water  on  the  sand-banks  ; 
it  will  be  an  excellent  thing  in  any  event." 

1 '  The  situation  of  the  locks  at  the  Mountain  Ridge  is 
such,  that  three  of  them,  if  not  more,  must  be  placed 
within  the  ridge,  combined  and  doubled.  You  will  under- 
stand by  this  that  the  line  is  so  steep  as  to  require  the 
locks  combined,  and  the  top  of  the  ridge  must  be  blown 
out  to  join  lock-pits.  I  hope  you  will  watch  the  stone- 
cutters, and  check  at  once  any  deviation  from  the  right 
workmanship.  I  feel  alarmed  about  the  water-lime,  lest 
they  should  not  calculate  upon  the  importance  of  this 
material.  You  will  see  also  to  the  foundations  of  the 


96  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

locks,  as  much  depends  upon  these.  Let  the  sheet-piling 
below  the  lower  gate  be  done  with  the  utmost  faithful- 
ness, and  so  close  as  to  be  almost  water-proof,  by  battens 
of  thin  material,  and  then  puddle  each  side,  allowing  the 
sheet-piling  to  be  at  least  three  or  four  feet  deep  below 
the  timber,  except  where  it  is  too  hard  to  prevent  its 
being  drove  so  deep  ;  but  even  there,  let  it  be  well  done. 
This  part  of  the  work  I  beg  you  will  attend  to  personally, 
as  every  thing  depends  upon  it." 

In  June,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-two,  Judge 
"Wright  addressed  him  thus:  "I  feel  extremely  anxious 
to  have  every  attention  paid  to  the  construction  of  the 
Rochester  Aqueduct,  and  I  beg  you  will  see  that  no  bad 
material  or  ill  workmanship  is  permitted.  With  regard 
to  the  Ironde quoit  embankment,  water  should  now  be 
brought  on  to  it  through  a  trough,  to  settle  it,  after  which 
the  safety  and  durability  depends,  in  a  great  measure, 
upon  the  wooden  trunk  placed  inside,  below  part  of  the 
lining.  This  operation  is  to  prevent  sudden  breaking  •  it 
may  and  probably  will  settle  so  as  to  make  some  large 
cracks,  but  they  would  be  of  such  a  character  as  to  give 
timely  notice  of  the  discharge  of  water  before  any  great 
injury  could  arise.  I  might  say  other  things,  but  it  is 
unnecessary.  Your  good  judgment  will  direct  you  in  all 
these  matters." 

11  The  aqueduct  at  G-enesee  river  will  require  great 
attention,  particularly  the  piers  ;  observe  that  every 
part  is  solid  and  firm.  It  is  a  great  work,  and  any  defect 
in  it  would  ruin  yourself  as  well  as  me.  Let  there  be  very 
strong  bonds  in  every  part,  and  clamps  at  the  upper  end 


DAVID  STANHOPE  BATES. 


97 


of  the  piers,  to  prevent  an}'  stone  from  being  started.  I 
feel  great  anxiety  about  these  two  places — the  G-enesee 
river  and  the  Irondequoit  embankment — therefore  beg 
you  to  see  to  them/7 

Two  plans,  contemplating  different  materials,  were  pro- 
posed for  the  aqueduct  over  the  G-enesee  river — one  of 
limestone,  similar  to  that  which  was  finally  used  upon 
the  enlargement  of  the  Erie  Canal.  This  was  deemed  too 
expensive  for  the  country  in  eighteen  hundred  and 
twenty- two,  and  the  plan  employing  the  red  sandstone 
was  adopted,  greatly  to  the  disappointment  of  the  Chief, 
and  resident  engineers,  who  did  not  consider  the  material 
sufficiently  durable  for  such  an  important  work. 


VIEW  OF  THE  AQUEDUCT  AT  ROCHESTER 


This  aqueduct  was  commenced  in  June,  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  twenty-one,  and  opened  for  use  early  in  October, 
eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-three,  and  consisted  of  nine 


98  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

arches  of  hewn  stone,  of  fifty  feet  span  each,  over  the 
river,  and  two  arches,  of  forty  feet  each,  over  the  mill 
canals,  making  the  total  length  of  this  fine  structure  eight 
hundred  and  two  feet. 

Under  an  act  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Ohio,  of  Jan- 
uary, eighteen  hundred  and  twenty- three,  "  authorizing 
an  examination  into  the  practicability  of  connecting  Lake 
Erie  with  the  Ohio  river/7  two  acting  commissioners, 
Messrs.  Williams  and  Kelley,  were  appointed  by  the 
Board  of  Canal  Commissioners  of  Ohio,  to  superintend 
and  take  the  immediate  direction  of  the  examination  and 
surveys. 

The  Commissioners,  in  their  report  of  January,  eight- 
een hundred  and  twenty-four,  state  "  that  in  undertaking 
a  work  of  so  great  importance,  and  involving  so  much 
responsibility  as  that  of  selecting  and  locating  a  line  of 
canal  from  the  lake  to  the  Ohio,  it  was  thought  prudent 
to  avail  ourselves,  as  far  as  possible,  of  the  knowledge 
which  might  be  derived  from  the  experience  of  New  York 
in  the  construction  of  her  canals. 

The  third  annual  report  of  the  Canal  Commissioners  of 
Ohio,  of  January,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-five, 
states  :  "  They  made  application  to  the  New  York  Canal 
Board,  as  directed  by  an  act  of  assembly,  for  one  of  the 
most  experienced  and  distinguished  engineers,  for  the 
purpose  of  revising  the  work." 

This  application  resulted  in  the  employment  of  Judge 
D.  S.  Bates.  "  Judge  Bates  arrived  in  this  State  about 
the  first  of  September,  since  which  time  he  has  revised  the 
whole  of  the  lines  that  have  been  located,  gauged  and 


DAVID  STANHOPE  BATES.  99 

measured  all  the  streams  relied  upon  as  feeders  for  those 
lines,  and  has  fully  examined  the  question  of  supplying 
the  Tyamochete  summit  with  water.  For  his  views  on 
these  several  subjects,  we  beg  leave  to  refer  the  General 
Assembly  to  his  detailed  and  able  report  herewith  sub- 
mitted." 

The  skill,  energy,  and  industry  of  Judge  Bates,  indi- 
cated by  the  foregoing  extract,  during  the  four  months 
following  his  appointment  by  the  Board  as  Chief  Engi- 
neer of  the  system  of  the  canals  of  Ohio  at  that  period,  are 
still  more  strikingly  exemplified  by  the  unparalleled 
amount  of  professional  labor  performed  by  the  limited 
parties  under  his  charge  during  the  following  year,  as 
briefly  stated  in  the  report  of  the  Commissioners,  made 
January  first,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-five. 

"  One  entire  line,  extending  from  Portsmouth,  on  the 
Ohio,  to  the  Black  River,  on  the  lake  ;  a  line  extending 
from  Coshecton  to  Cleveland,  by  the  way  of  Tuscarawas 
and  Cuyahoga,  the  Columbus,  and  north  fork  of  Licking 
feeders,  and  an  extra  line  from  the  Pickaway  Plains  to 
the  neighborhood  of  Chillicothe,  have  been  carefully 
located,  surveyed,  and  staked  out,  during  the  last  season. 
An  entire  line,  extending  from  Cincinnati  to  the  foot  of 
the  Maumee  Rapids,  with  the  feeders  from  the  Maumee 
and  Miami  rivers,  and  an  extra  line  extending  from  Cincin- 
nati, northwesterly  about  ten  miles,  have  been  located, 
surveyed,  and  staked  out,  with  equal  care,  making  an 
aggregate  length  of  canal  and  feeder  lines  located  during 
the  past  season  of  six  hundred  and  seventy  miles." 

"We  believe  the  history  of  canaling  furnishes  no  in- 


100  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

stance  of  an  equal  length  of  line  having  been  located,  and 
the  expense  of  constructing  a  canal  thereon  estimated  in 
the  same  length  of  time,  nor  at  so  small  an  expense. 
There  was  located  in  New  York,  in  eighteen  hundred  and 
sixteen,  about  four  hundred  miles  of  canal  line  ;  this  was 
accomplished  for  sixteen  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
thirty-seven  dollars,  a  sum  nearly  equal  to  the  whole  cost 
of  our  examinations,  surveys,  and  locations  for  three 
years,  in  which  eight  hundred  miles  of  line  have  been 
actually  located  and  staked  out  on  various  routes,  and  at 
least  two  thousand  miles  of  random  levelling  have  been 
accomplished." 

In  January,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty -five,  Judge 
Bates  presented  to  the  Board  of  Commissioners  his  report 
upon  the  lines  surveyed  under  his  charge  and  supervision 
the  previous  year.  Regarding  the  choice  of  proposed 
routes,  it  was  deemed  necessary,  in  order  to  do  "justice 
to  contending  interests,  as  well  as  to  satisfy  the  candid 
and  prudent  of  both  parties,"  to  obtain  the  opinion  of  an 
engineer  of  experience  and  ability,  who  had  formed  no 
previous  views  on  the  subject.  Judge  Roberts,  of  the 
New  York  canals,  was  therefore  called  upon  for  this  ser- 
vice, who,  after  a  minute  and  careful  examination,  made 
with  the  assistance  of  Mr.  Samuel  Forrer,  of  Ohio,  and 
Mr.  William  H.  Price,  of  the  same  State,  submitted  his 
views,  in  which  Judge  Bates,  the  Engineer-in-Chief,  fully 
concurred. 

On  the  fourth  day  of  July,  eighteen  hundred  and 
twenty-five,  the  work  upon  the  Ohio  canals  commenced  at 
Newark,  about  the  centre  of  the  State,  in  presence  of  the 


DAVID  STANHOPE  BATES.  101 

Governor  of  Ohio,  Governor  De  "Witt  Clinton,  of  New 
York,  and  many  distinguished  citizens  of  the  different 
States.  The  first  shovelful  of  earth  was  thrown  by  Gov- 
ernor Clinton,  the  second  by  Governor  Morrow,  and  the 
third  by  the  Chief  Engineer.  "  But  a  few  weeks  were 
suffered  to  elapse  after  the  commencement  of  labor, 
before  the  whole  line  presented  an  active  scene  of  opera- 
tions." 

Before  leaving  the  State  of  Ohio,  Governor  Clinton, 
with  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  that  State,  accompanied 
Judge  Bates  and  his  party  over  the  entire  canal  route. 
This  was  almost  the  last  personal  effort  of  this  energetic 
advocate  for  the  advancement  of  internal  improvements. 

Judge  Bates  continued  in  the  service  of  the  State  of 
Ohio,  as  Principal  Engineer,  until  March,  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  twenty-nine,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  following  ex- 
tracts from  the  report  of  the  Canal  Commissioners,  dated 
January,  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty  : 

"  Believing  that  the  employment  of  the  Principal  Engi- 
neer was  no  longer  required  by  the  public  interest,  the 
Board  made  arrangements  at  the  last  meeting  to  dispense 
with  the  further  services  of  Hon.  D.  S.  Bates  in  that  capa- 
city. This  arrangement  took  effect  on  the  last  day  of 
February,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-nine.  Since  that 
time  no  engineer  of  higher  grade  than  Resident  Engineer 
has  been  in  the  employment  of  the  Board." 

The  Commissioners  further  state,  in  the  same  docu- 
ment, that  the  "locks,  aqueducts,  and  other  important 
structures  on  the  canals  have  so  far  fully  answered  the 
purposes  for  which  they  were  designed,  and  that  no  seri- 


102  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

ous  injury  has  been  sustained  by  any  of  them  since  their 
completion." 

This  fact  is  certainly  complimentary  to  the  Principal 
Engineer  and  his  assistants,  who  designed  the  various 
structures,  and  faithfully  superintended  their  construction, 
upon  several  hundred  miles  of  canals  in  the  different 
sections  of  the  State,  during  a  term  of  nearly  five  years. 

-During  the  time  occupied  by  Judge  Bates  in  charge  of 
the  canals  of  Ohio,  about  eight  hundred  miles  of  canals 
and  feeders  were  surveyed  and  located,  and  four  hundred 
miles  placed  under  contract,  and  nearly  one-half  of  this 
distance  open  for  navigation,  while  the  residue  was  well 
advanced  towards  completion,  upon  the  location  and  plans 
made  under  his  direction  and  supervision.  They  were 
finally  finished  under  the  immediate  charge  of  the  several 
Resident  Engineers,  who,  for  many  years,  had  been  the 
assistants  of  Judge  Bates,  and  for  whom  he  cherished  the 
highest  regard  and  most  friendly  interests,  which  were 
warmly  reciprocated  by  all  of  them  to  the  period  of  his 
death.  Two  of  these  assistants,  Hon.  Jesse  L.  Williams, 
of  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana,  and  Mr.  Samuel  Forrer,  of  Day- 
ton, Ohio,  have  become  distinguished  in  the  profession, 
and  highly  appreciated  as  men  of  worth  and  integrity. 
Some  extracts  from  their  letters  to  the  author  may  be 
found  interesting,  as  showing  the  strong  sentiment  of 
friendship  alluded  to.  Mr.  Williams  remarks :  "  The 
letters  of  Judge  Bates,  which  I  inclose,  may  serve  to  indi- 
cate character.  The  re-perusal  of  them  has  revived  my 
affectionate  regard  for  one  who,  at  all  times  and  under  all 
circumstances,  took  the  greatest  interest  in  his  assistants. 


DAVID  STANHOPE  BATES.  103 

At  your  convenience  these  letters  may  be  returned  to  me , 
as  I  do  not  like  to  lose  any  memorial  of  my  kind  and 
revered  friend." 

Mr.  Forrer,  of  Ohio,  in  a  letter  to  the  author,  under 
date  of  December,  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-one,  thus 
remarks  : 

"  Judge  Bates,  of  whom  I  can  speak  with  the  utmost 
pleasure,  was  employed  by  the  Canal  Commissioners  of 
Ohio  on  account  of  his  experience  in  constructing  canals, 
for  the  purpose  of  revising  the  locations,  and  aiding  in 
making  the  different  plans  and  estimates  of  the  cost  of 
constructing  a  similar  work  on  each  of  the  different  routes, 
and  also  for  the  purpose  of  reviewing  the  question  of  sup- 
plying the  Tyamochete  summit  with  water." 

"  Judge  Bates,  upon  a  careful  reconnoissance  of  the  dif- 
ferent surveys,  submitted  his  report,  which  was  very  com- 
plete and  highly  satisfactory,  to  the  Board  of  Canal  Com- 
missioners, and  coming  from  an  engineer  of  much  experi- 
ence, acquired  on  the  great  Erie  Canal,  of 'New  York,  it 
commanded  the  confidence  of  the  people  of  Ohio  in  their 
own  engineers,  as  well  as  in  the  projected  improvements. 

"  Familiar  with  every  department  of  the  business  of 
surveying,  locating,  constructing,  and  navigating  the 
canals  of  New  York  ;  with  the  early  mistakes  and  subse- 
quent improvements  in  the  manner  of  contracting  work, 
and  accounting  for  receipts  and  disbursements,  down  to 
the  organization  of  collectorships,  and  establishing  rates 
of  toll  on  transportation,  it  will  be  readily  perceived  that, 
in  addition  to  his  services  in  the  capacity  of  Engineer-in- 
Chief,  he  was  invaluable  to  the  Board  in  all  the  duties  per- 


104  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

taining  to  their  then  official  position.  Modest  and  unassu- 
ming, he  never  obtruded  his  plans  and  opinions,  but  gave 
them  on  proper  occasions  in  a  manner  so  genial,  that  they 
were  always  received  by  both  compeers  and  subordinates 
as  favors  of  great  value. 

"  His  urbanity  of  manner  greatly  endeared  him  to  all 
whose  fortune  it  was  to  serve  with  him.  He  gave  no 
orders,  but  made  simple  requests  as  favors  to  himself,  and 
the  result  was,  that  duties  were  performed  with  alacrity 
and  pleasure.  If  he  found  that  an  assistant  had,  from  any 
cause,  failed  to  give  a  contractor  the  proper  instructions, 
he  would  assume  the  fault  as  being  a  want  of  clear  and 
intelligible  instruction  by  himself.  Or  if  a  contractor  was 
not  doing  his  work  well,  while  he  would  not  hesitate  to 
show  his  dissatisfaction,  he  always  closed  his  lecture  with 
some  amusing  story,  to  convey  the  idea  that  he  would 
give  him  full  credit  if  future  good  conduct  justified  it.  I 
once  heard  him  tell  a  contractor,  who  was  putting  earth 
against  a  stone  wall  rather  loosely,  that  he  *  did  not  like 
to  have  the  puddling  done  in  a  manner  that  would  ex- 
pand the  earth  so  as  to  make  two  cubic  yards  of  puddling 
out  of  one  yard  of  earth/  then,  turning  to  the  Assistant 
Engineer  in  charge  of  the  work,  remarked,  in  the  hearing 
of  the  contractor,  1 1  must  have  forgotten  to  tell  you  how 
to  have  the  puddling  done,  and  the  contractor  has  had  no 
instructions,  for  I  see  he  has  done  everything  else  in  a 
faithful  manner,  and  I  doubt  not  he  intends  to  do  right, 
and  will,  when  properly  instructed.' 

"  Although  ever  vigilant  in  the  inspection  of  work,  and 
determined   to    have    it   well  done,    he    was    continually 


DAVID  STANHOPE  BATES.  105 

searching  out  objects  of  commendation,  upon  which  he 
never  failed  to  bestow  the  proper  praise,  in  a  manner 
which  showed  that  he  was  really  gratified.  He  was  em- 
phatically a  gentleman,  kind  and  courteous  to  all,  and  of 
exceedingly  honest  principles." 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-five  the  Louisville  and 
Portland  Canal  Company  engaged  Judge  Bates  as  their 
Chief  Engineer  in  locating  and  constructing  the  canal  for 
the  passage  of  steamboats  around  the  falls  of  the  Ohio 
river,  near  Louisville,  Kentucky.  These  duties  were  per- 
formed in  conjunction  with  his  professional  engagements 
with  the  State  of  Ohio,  he  having  for  his  assistants  his 
eldest  son,  John  Bates,  and  John  R.  Henry,  and  J.  A. 
Lapham. 

On  this  work  he  continued  in  charge  until  June,  eight- 
een hundred  and  twenty-eight,  when,  in  consequence  of 
difficulties  between  the  contractors  and  the  Company,  he 
was  called  upon  by  the  Directors  to  declare  the  contract 
under  dispute  void.  After  a  careful  and  minute  investiga- 
tion of  the  whole  subject,  he  declined  to  comply  with  the 
request,  on  the  ground  that  the  offences  charged  was  not 
"negligence  or  an  unfaithful  performance  of  work,  and 
did  not  properly  vitiate  the  contract." 

Accompanying  this  report  was  the  resignation  of  his 
office  as  Chief  Engineer,  which  was  accepted  by  the  Com- 
pany, to  take  effect  in  June,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty- 
eight.  He  was  influenced  in  this,  as  in  every  transaction 
of  his  life,  by  just  and  honorable  principles.  Policy  might 
have  induced  him  to  another  course,  but  to  his  free  and 
upright  mind,  the  highest  emoluments  of  office  were  not 


106  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

worth  possession  when  gained  at  the  sacrifice  of  honesty 
and  integrity. 

In  the  spring  of  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-nine, 
after  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  service  in  Ohio,  Judge 
Bates  was  appointed,  by  the  Canal  Commissioners  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  Chief  Engineer  in  the  charge  of  the 
surveys  and  location  of  the  Chenango  Canal  from  Utica 
to  Binghamton. 

He  completed  a  thorough  survey  of  the  various  routes 
proposed  for  this  canal,  and  made  a  full  and  forcible 
report  to  the  Commissioners,  showing  the  entire  practi- 
cability of  the  undertaking,  and  that  an  adequate  supply 
of  water  could  be  obtained  from  artificial  reservoirs  at  the 
summit.  This  method  was  imperative,  owing  to  the 
statute  under  which  the  survey  was  authorized,  which 
forbid  the  use  of  the  waters  from  the  Oriskany  and 
Saquoit  streams  on  the  summit. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty  he  was  appointed  by 
the  Board  of  Commissioners  of  New  York  to  make  the 
surveys  for  a  canal  from  Rochester  to  Olean,  on  the  Alle- 
ghany  river.  This  he  successfully  accomplished,  and  the 
canal  is  now  known  as  the  Genesee  Yalley  Canal. 

During  the  next  year  he  made  the  preliminary  surveys 
for  the  location  of  a  railroad  from  Canandaigua  to  Roch- 
ester, and  subsequently  constructed  upon  the  route  he 
selected,  the  Auburn  and  Rochester  Railroad,  now  form- 
ing a  part  of  the  New  York  Central. 

In  the  summer  of  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-one,  he 
was  engaged  in  the  construction  and  location  of  the  rail- 
road from  the  city  of  Rochester  to  Carthage,  at  the  mouth 


DAVID  STANHOPE  BATES.  107 

of  the  Genesee  river.  Upon  the  completion  of  these 
duties,  Judge  Bates  was  appointed  Engineer  of  the  "  Nia- 
gara River  Hydraulic  Company,"  incorporated  for  the 
purpose  of  improving  the  water  power  on  that  river  near 
Black  Rock,  in  the  State  of  New  York.  After  the  fulfil- 
ment of  this  engagement,  he  accepted  an  invitation  to 
make  the  surveys  and  necessary  examinations  for  a  water 
power  on  the  Niagara  river,  below  the  "  whirlpool." 
This  work  occupied  his  attention  until  eighteen  hundred 
and  thirty-four,  when  he  was  employed  as  Engineer-in- 
Chief,  by  the  State  of  Michigan,  to  make  examinations 
and  surveys  for  the  Erie  and  Kalamazoo  Railroad  in  that 
State,  his  son  David  Bates  acting  as  assistant. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-five,  Judge  Bates  re- 
turned to  his  home  in  the  city  of  Rochester,  with  broken 
health,  and  unable  to  attend  to  further  professional  calls  or 
duties. 

During  a  lingering  illness  of  nearly  four  years  he  was 
patient  and  cheerful,  though  at  times  under  the  influence 
of  great  suffering  from  the  character  of  his  malady,  which 
assumed  the  form  of  pulmonary  consumption.  Three 
months  previous  to  his  death,  he  was  prostrated  by  apo- 
plexy, from  which  he  never  fully  recovered  consciousness, 
and  died  the  twenty-eighth  of  November,  eighteen  hundred 
and  thirty-nine,  and  was  buried  at  Mount  Hope  Cemetery, 
Rochester,  New  York. 

Eighteen  years  of  the  life  of  Judge  Bates  were  passed 
in  active  service  upon  the  public  works  of  the  different 
States,  in  most  instances  in  charge  of  heavy  and  very 
responsible  duties.  The  internal  improvements  of  Ohio 


108  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

and  Kentucky  following  the  completion  of  the  New  York 
canals,  occupied  his  time  nearly  seven  years. 

At  this  period  American  engineering  was  yet  in  its  in- 
fancy. The  now  flourishing  States  were  then  continued 
forests,  broken  only  occasionally  with  newly  rising  settle- 
ments ;  and  the  canals,  that  were  essential  to  their  growth 
and  to  the  progress  of  the  improvement  of  the  country, 
traversed  sections  of  swampy  and  malarious  districts.  To 
this  poisonous  atmosphere  the  engineers  were  exposed, 
remote  from  home  and  domestic  comforts.  A  great  work 
was  before  them,  the  success  of  which  depended  upon 
their  skill  and  rigid  economy.  Those  were  indeed  years 
of  wearisome  labor  to  the  self-denying  pioneer  engineers, 
who  patiently  and  perseveringly  gathered  the  knowledge 
and  experience  from  which  many  of  the  profession  have 
since  won  an  easier  way  to  distinction  and  wealth. 

Personally,  Judge  Bates  was  of  a  fine  stature,  with  a 
commanding  figure.  His  countenance  was  agreeable 
rather  than  handsome,  bearing  the  type  of  great  benev- 
olence. His  eyes  were  black,  with  a  lively  but  gentle 
expression.  His  manner  was  at  all  times  polished  and 
refined,  both  in  domestic  and  public  circles.  In  conversa- 
tion he  was  cheerful,  witty,  and  often  brilliant.  He  was 
endowed  with  a  retentive  memory,  and  possessed  a  happy 
talent  in  imparting  to  others  the  wealth  of  his  vigorous 
mind,  and  became  the  cherished  companion  of  the  intel- 
lectual men  of  the  day  in  the  different  States  to  which  his 
professional  duties  called  him. 


NATHAN  S.  ROBERTS, 

SURVEYOR  AND  CIVIL  ENGINEER. 


AMONG  the  surveyors  and  civil  engineers  who  took 
a  leading  part  in  the  development  of  the  inland  navi- 
gation of  the  State  of  New  York,  few  were  better 
known  than  Nathan  S.  Roberts.  As  a  man  of  marked 
and  peculiarly  American  character,  and,  in  his  day,  of 
enviable  reputation  in  his  profession,  Judge  Roberts 
deserves  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  annals  of  the  early 
engineering  of  the  Empire  State. 

His  forefathers,  to  use  his  own  words,  "  were  among 
the  earliest  Puritans  who  emigrated  from  England  to  join 
their  brothers  at  the  Plymouth  Colony,  about  the  year 
sixteen  hundred  and  forty.'7  There  were  two  brothers, 
by  the  name  of  Roberts,  who  settled  in  the  town  of 
Auburn,  Massachusetts.  His  grandfather,  John  Roberts, 
a  grandson  of  one  of  these  brothers,  was  slain  in  the 
French  war,  in  seventeen  hundred  and  sixty-four,  while 
serving  as  a  soldier  under  the  command  of  Sir  William 
Pepperell.  A  wife  and  several  children,  among  whom 
was  Abraham  Roberts  (the  father  of  Nathan  S.),  were  left 
to  mourn  his  loss.  Abraham,  though  born  and  reared 
among  the  rocks  of  New  Hampshire,  sought  his  fortune 

109 


110  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

in  the  West  Indies.  In  the  course  of  a  few  years,  having 
acquired  a  handsome  competence,  he  resolved,  at  about 
the  time  of  the  breaking  out  of  the  American  Revolution, 
to  revisit  his  native  land  ;  but,  unfortunately  falling  into 
hands  of  the  British  cruisers,  he  lost  his  fortune  as  well 
as  liberty,  and  was  forced  to  serve  against  the  vessels  of 
his  country  in  several  engagements.  Finally,  having 
effected  his  escape,  he  at  length  established  himself  in 
the  State  of  New  Jersey  at  a  place  called  "  Piles  Grove," 
where,  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  July,  seventeen  hun- 
dred and  seventy-six,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born. 

During  a  large  portion  of  his  minority,  his  best  efforts 
were  directed  to  assist  in  the  support  of  his  parents  and 
younger  brothers.  After  coming  of  age,  he  laid  out  his 
earnings  in  the  purchase  of  one  hundred  acres  of  new 
land  in  the  State  of  Yermont.  To  this  tract,  with  two 
axes,  and  a  scanty  wardrobe,  he  repaired  on  foot,  and 
having,  in  eight  weeks,  chopped  several  acres  of  heavy 
timber,  returned  to  Plainfield,  N.  J.,  to  teach  school 
during  the  winter.  In  eighteen  hundred  and  three  he 
visited  the  State  of  New  York  to  examine  some  wild 
lands  he  had  bought  in  Oneida  County. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  four  he  settled  in  that  county, 
and  taught  a  school  at  Oriskany,  and  in  eighteen  hundred 
and  six  he  was  appointed  Principal  of  the  Academy  at 
Whitesboro',  in  the  same  county. 

During  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  sixteen,  Judge 
Roberts  married  Miss  White,  the  grand  daughter  of  Judge 
White,  of  Whitesboro'.  In  this  year  he  purchased  a 


NATHAN  S.  ROBERTS.  Ill 

farm  in  Lenox,  Madison  County,  New  York,  which  was 
his  home  during  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

In  July  of  this  year,  at  the  solicitation  of  Benjamin 
"Wright,  Judge  Roberts  first  entered  upon  the  career  of  a 
civil  engineer.  With  the  necessary  men,  teams,  tools, 
provisions,  and  tents,  he  proceeded  to  make  a  survey  of 
the  route  of  the  middle  section  of  the  Erie  Canal  to  Mon- 
tezuma.  The  winter  of  eighteen  hundred  and  sixteen  and 
seventeen  was  spent  at  Rome,  in  preparing  maps  and 
profiles  of  the  line  recently  explored,  and  in  the  following 
spring  this  section  of  the  canal  was  located  and  staked 
out,  Judge  Roberts  being  employed  on  it  as  Assistant 
Engineer.  In  eighteen  hundred  and  eighteen  he  was  em- 
ployed through  the  winter  as  Resident  Engineer  in  charge 
of  the  work  from  Rome  to  Syracuse,  and  in  the  spring  was 
placed  in  charge  of  a  party  to  locate  the  canal  from 
Syracuse  westward.  This  location,  commenced  on  the 
twelfth  of  April,  was  completed  to  the  Seneca  river  the 
last  of  July,  and  the  work  contracted  in  the  summer  of 
that  year. 

In  the  spring  of  eighteen  hundred  and  nineteen  Judge 
Roberts  located  the  Erie  Canal  from  Seneca  river  to  the 
village  of  Clyde,  and  the  work  was  placed  under  contract 
in  May  and  June  of  that  year.  In  the  winter  of  eighteen 
hundred  and  nineteen  and  twenty  he  made  the  plans  for 
the  locks  between  Clyde  and  Rochester,  and  in  the  spring 
located  the  canal  down  the  Clyde  river,  and  through  the 
Cayuga  marshes,  on  the  line  explored  by  him  the  previous 
fall.  He  continued  in  charge  of  this  work  until  near  its 
completion  in  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-two,  when  he 


112  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

was  directed  by  the  Canal  Commissioners  to  take  charge 
of  the  locks  at  Lockport,  and  to  superintend  the  construc- 
tion of  the  canal  to  its  western  termination. 

Judge  Roberts  continued  in  charge  of  the  work  from 
Lockport  to  Lake  Erie,  from  eighteen  hundred  and 
twenty-two  to  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-five.  At 
Lockport  a  bold,  rocky  ridge  or  spur  of  mountain,  rising 
abruptly,  presented  to  the  inexperienced  eye  an  almost 
insuperable  barrier  to  the  westward  progress  of  the  canal. 
A  rise  of  some  sixty  feet  was  to  be  overcome,  followed  by 
a  cut  thirty  feet  deep  and  over  seven  miles  in  length. 
Many  intelligent  men  were  disposed  to  view  this  as  an 
insurmountable  obstacle  to  the  successful  completion  of 
the  enterprise.  Here  was  required  a  system  of  combined 
locks  such  as  had  never  been  constructed  on  this  conti- 
nent, and  the  skill,  ingenuity,  and  inventive  genius  of  the 
whole  corps  of  engineers  in  the  employ  of  the  State  was 
called  into  requisition  by  the  Canal  Board  for  the  produc- 
tion of  the  best  plan  of  construction.  On  a  given  day 
plans,  estimates,  and  specifications  were  ordered  to  be  laid 
before  the  Board  by  the  several  engineers  in  the  employ 
of  the  State.  Judge  Roberts  on  this  occasion  exhibited 
all  those  qualities  which  denote  the  ready  resources  of  the 
skilful  engineer,  and  gained  a  triumph  rarely  won  by  the 
most  eminent  in  his  profession.  He  justly  took  much 
pleasure  in  alluding  to  it,  in  after  years,  as  the  proudest 
triumph  of  his  long  professional  career. 

Without  consulting  any  one  ;  with  but  little  aid  from 
published  works  on  the  subject  of  engineering,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  draft  his  plan  for  the  proposed  structure.  It 


NATHAN  S.  ROBERTS.  113 

consisted  of  five  double-combined  locks,  of  twelve  feet 
lift  each,  working  side  by  side.  His  plan  was  one  that 
would  involve  a  large  expenditure  of  money  to  test 
the  practicability  of  an  enterprise  upon  which  the 
eyes  of  the  public  were  directed  with  much  interest  and 
anxiety. 

He  had  the  satisfaction  of  being  able  to  lay  before  the 
Canal  Board  his  plan,  complete  in  all  its  details  of  con- 
struction and  operation,  and  of  having  it  (over  many 
others)  unanimously  adopted,  and  himself  appointed  to 
superintend  its  construction.  On  the  eighth  of  July, 
eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-three  the  first  stone  in  the 
foundation  was  laid  by  Judge  Roberts,  in  the  presence  of 
a  numerous  concourse  of  citizens. 

In  September,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-four,  the 
first  canal  boat  arrived  at  Lockport  from  the  east,  and  the 
first  one  that  entered  the  basin  was  the  "  Roberts,"  Cap- 
tain Hunter,  a  boat  of  about  forty  tons  burthen. 

On  Thursday,  the  second  day  of  June,  eighteen  hundred 
and  twenty-five,  the  water  from  Lake  Erie  was  ]et  into 
the  canal  as  far  as  Tonawanda  Creek,  and  on  the  day 
following,  the  first  boat  passed  up  the  canal  to  Black  Rock 
Harbor,  which  event  was  handsomely  celebrated  by  the 
citizens  ;  and  on  the  fifth  of  June  the  Marquis  de  La 
Fayette  was  received  at  Black  Rock  with  great  demon- 
strations of  joy  by  the  people,  on  his  way  down  the  canal 
on  the  boat  "Seneca  Chief.7'  On  Friday,  the  twenty- 
fourth  of  June,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-five,  the 
coping-stone  at  the  head  of  the  ten  combined  locks  at 
Lockport  was  laid  with  Masonic  honors  j  several  lodges 


114 


CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 


and  chapters  being  present,  and  an  immense  collection  of 
citizens  of  Western  New  York. 

On  the  twenty-fourth  of  October,  eighteen  hundred  and 
twenty-five,  a  little  over  three  and  a  quarter  years  from 
their  commencement,  the  combined  locks  were  so  far 
finished  as  to  allow  the  passage  of  boats,  and  were  found 
to  be  a  complete  success. 


COMBINED    LOCKS   AT    LOCKPORT 

Judge  Roberts  continued  on  the  western  division  of 
the  Erie  Canal  until  the  whole  was  completed.  Immedi- 
ately after  the  celebration  of  this  successful  achievement  he 
was  called  to  the  Chesapeake  and  Delaware  Canal  as  one 
of  a  Board  of  Consulting  Engineers.  In  the  ensuing 
January  he  was  employed  by  the  State  of  New  York  to 
make  a  survey  of  a  route  for  a  ship  canal  around  the  Falls 
of  Niagara.  Having  completed  this  survey  and  reported 
the  result  of  his  labors,  he  accepted  an  appointment  as 


NATHAN  S.  ROBERTS.  115 

Chief  Engineer  of  the  canal  from  Pittsburgh  to  Kiskimin- 
etas,  in  Pennsylvania. 

During  the  time  he  was  employed  in  this  work,  and 
while  on  a  brief  visit  home,  he  accepted  a  call  from  the 
New  York  State  Canal  Board  to  investigate  and  report 
upon  the  feasibility  of  supplying  the  summit  level  of  the 
Chenango  Canal  (then  projected)  with  water.  This  impor- 
tant investigation  he  accomplished  in  the  most  thorough 
manner  in  the  short  space  of  three  weeks,  and  embodied 
in  a  full  report  the  result  of  his  examinations,  which  was 
highly  satisfactory  to  the  Canal  Board  and  gratifying  to 
the  friends  and  advocates  of  the  project. 

Immediately  following  this,  he  received  two  applications 
for  his  services — one  from  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  the  other  from  the  Secretary  of  War  of  the  United 
States,  to  review  the  estimates  of  the  line  of  the  Chesa- 
peake and  Ohio  Canal,  with  both  of  which  he  proceeded 
to  comply,  in  the  latter  finding  himself  associated  with 
Judge  Geddes,  of  his  own  State. 

This  was  followed  by  another  appointment  from  Penn- 
sylvania, as  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Pennsylvania  Canal, 
which  he  accepted,  and  proceeded  to  examine  the  country 
from  Johnstown,  on  the  Conemaugh,  to  Franktown,  on 
the  Juniata,  for  a  railroad  or  portage,  to  connect  the 
canal.  In  these  responsible  duties  he  continued  until 
December,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-eight,  when,  re- 
ceiving a  more  lucrative  appointment  from  the  Chesapeake 
and  Ohio  Canal  Company,  as  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Engineers,  he  entered  upon  that  duty,  and  during  the  same 
season  completed  the  revision  and  location  of  the  canal 


116  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

from  Cumberland,  in  Maryland,  to  Pittsburg,  Pa.  Dur- 
ing this  and  the  succeeding  year,  he  extended  the  Chesa- 
peake and  Ohio  Canal  from  the  Point  of  Rocks  to  Har- 
per's Ferry,  a  distance  of  twelve  and  a-half  miles.  During 
this  time  he  was  also  associated  with  Jonathan  Knight  as 
a  Commissioner  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  Com- 
pany. 

During  the  autumn  and  winter  of  eighteen  hundred  and 
thirty  he  was  stationed  at  the  city  of  Washington,  em- 
ployed in  superintending  the  first  division  of  the  Chesa- 
peake and  Ohio  Canal. 

After  a  respite  of  a  few  months,  during  which  he  visited 
his  home,  he  received,  and,  after  much  hesitation,  accepted 
service  from  the  Federal  Government  in  making  an  ex- 
amination of  the  Muscle  Shoals  in  the  Tennessee  river,  in 
the  State  of  Alabama,  with  a  view  of  opening  a  ship-canal 
around  the  shoals.  As  Chief  Engineer  in  charge,  for  two 
years  he  labored  with  indefatigable  industry  and  perseve- 
rance. 

During  the  time  while  thus  employed,  he  was  invited 
to  take  charge  of  the  canal  connecting  the  Mississippi 
with  Lake  Pontchar train,  but  having  already  experienced 
the  evil  influences  of  the  Southern  climate  upon  his  over- 
tasked constitution,  he  concluded  to  return  to  the  more 
congenial  climate  of  the  North.  Previous  to  his  departure 
from  Alabama  for  his  home,  he  was  honored  by  a  public 
dinner  at  Florence,  as  an  expression  of  the  high  estima- 
tion in  which  he  was  held  by  its  citizens  in  both  his  public 
and  private  relations. 

On  returning  home  his  experience  and  skill  were  again 


NATHAN  S.  ROBERTS.  117 

sought  by  the  Canal  Board  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
who,  in  pursuance  of  an  act  of  the  Legislature,  were 
about  to  enter  upon  a  series  of  examinations  and  surveys, 
with  a  view  to  an  estimate  of  the  expense  of  enlarging 
the  Erie  Canal,  which  was  now  becoming  inadequate  to 
meet  the  rapidly  increasing  demands  upon  its  navigation. 
Accordingly,  in  the  spring  of  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty- 
five,  associated  with  Messrs.  John  B.  Jervis  and  Holmes 
Hutchinson,  Civil  Engineers,  he  entered  upon  the  duties 
assigned  him,  and  submitted  a  report  to  the  Legislature 
of  the  ensuing  year,  on  which  a  law  was  passed  author- 
izing the  commencement  of  the  improvement. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-nine  Judge  Roberts  was 
appointed  Chief  Engineer  of  the  western  division  of  the 
Erie  Canal,  extending  from  Rochester  to  Buffalo,  where 
he  had  the  gratification  and  pleasure  of  enlarging  the 
works  of  his  earlier  construction,  to  meet  the  increasing 
demands  of  the  great  and  growing  inland  commerce.  He 
re-built  one  tier  of  the  combined  locks  at  Lockport,  and 
enlarged  portions  of  the  prism  of  the  canal,  and  in  eight- 
een hundred  and  forty-one,  while  engaged  in  the  com- 
pletion of  his  last,  great  work,  the  Rochester  Aqueduct, 
he  was,  for  political  reasons,  discharged  by  the  party  who 
had  attained  the  ascendancy  in  the  State  the  preceding 
year. 

From  that  time  forward,  admonished  by  his  advancing 
years,  and  the  demands  of  his  private  estate  upon  his 
attention,  he  bade  a  farewell  for  ever  to  the  pursuits  of 
a  profession  in  which  he  had  acquired  a  full  share  of  fame, 
and  an  ample  pecuniary  independence. 


118  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

He  was  the  friend  and  patron  of  merit,  always  interest- 
ing himself  to  promote  the  welfare  and  advancement  of 
those  young  men  whom  he  found  to  be  worthy,  and 
struggling  for  success,  without  friends  or  fortune.  Such 
he  would  encourage  by  his  patronage,  counsel,  and  advice, 
inspiring  them  with  courage  to  encounter  difficulties  with 
a  determination  to  make  their  mark  in  the  world.  Yery 
many  who  afterwards  became  distinguished  in  the  State, 
can  date  their  first  encouragement  to  action  from  the  time 
when  they  witnessed  his  noble  example,  and  were  the 
recipients  of  his  aid  and  advice. 

In  his  retirement,  he  was  wont  to  revive  old  associa- 
tions by  correspondence  with  the  few  surviving  co-workers 
of  his  earlier  days.  Among  them,  his  relations  of  friend- 
ship with  Governor  Bouck  continued  unabated  to  the  last, 
and  on  learning  of  the  fast  declining  strength  of  his  vener- 
able friend ,  the  Governor  wrote  him  a  most  friendly 
and  characteristic  letter,  but  before  it  reached  its  destina- 
tion those  eyes  for  which  it  was  intended  closed  in  death, 
on  November  twenty -fourth,  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty- 
two,  and  the  earthly  career  of  this  distinguished  Surveyor 
and  Civil  Engineer  was  forever  terminated. 


GRIDLEY  BRYANT, 

CIVIL   ENGINEER. 


IN  the  front  rank  of  the  self-educated  pioneer  en- 
gineers of  this  country  stands  the  name  of  Gridley  Bryant, 
the  projector  and  engineer  of  the  first  railroad  in  America, 
the  inventor  of  the  eight-wheeled  car,  the  turn-table,  the 
portable  derrick,  the  switch,  and  many  other  valuable 
improvements  in  railway  machinery  and  equipment. 

He  was  born  at  Scituate,  Massachusetts,  in  seventeen 
hundred  and  ninety-eight.  His  father  dying  while  Gridley 
was  young,  and  leaving  no  property,  he  was  thrown  upon 
his  own  resources  and  efforts  to  obtain  his  living.  He 
remarks  in  regard  to  himself,  in  a  letter  to  the  author  in 
eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-nine,  "that,  having  a  me- 
chanical and  inventive  turn  of  mind,  I  always  managed  to 
get  along  comfortable.  I  was  generally  at  the  head  of 
the  young  urchins  of  our  neighborhood,  and  when  there 
was  a  fort  to  be  constructed,  or  a  cabin  to  be  built,  in  our 
plays,  I  was  always  appointed  the  chief  engineer,  by  com- 
mon consent,  and  some  of  our  juvenile  structures  are  still 
in  existence."  His  mother,  observing  his  aptness  for 
mechanical  pursuits,  apprenticed  him,  at  the  age  of  fifteen, 
to  a  prominent  builder  in  the  city  of  Boston.  His  industry 

119 


120  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

and  progress  were  such,  that  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  he  had 
the  sole  charge  of  his  employer's  extensive  works.  When 
twenty-one  years  of  age  he  commenced  business  as  a 
builder  on  his  own  account,  and  continued  in  this  occupa- 
tion until  he  commenced  the  Quincy  Railroad  in  eighteen 
hundred  and  twenty-six.  His  skill,  industry,  and  energy 
secured  for  him  many  important  contracts  with  the  United 
States  Government,  including  the  United  States  Bank  at 
Boston. 

In  a  letter  to  the  author  in  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty- 
nine,  he  says  :  "  My  opportunities  for  schooling  were  very 
limited,  amounting  to  only  a  few  months  in  each  year,  in 
a  common  country  school ;  but  I  always  had  an  innate 
desire  to  understand  clearly  the  why  and  the  wherefore  of 
everything  that  existed,  and  I  am  indebted  to  the  Hon. 
Edward  Everett  for  many  valuable  observations  in  some 
of  his  earliest  productions  in  regard  to  the  necessity  of 
studying  principles  ;  by  which  means  I  have  generally 
arrived  at  just  conclusions. 

"  I  have  always  had  a  great  desire  for  books,  especially 
those  that  treated  of  mechanics  and  natural  philosophy, 
and  perhaps  I  have  studied  as  much  in  my  lifetime  as 
people  generally  do.  I  have  made,  I  think,  some  useful 
inventions  ;  one  in  particular,  which  has  been  in  use  in 
every  city  and  village  in  the  country  wherever  there  was 
a  stone  building  to  be  erected.  I  mean  the  portable 
derrick  which  I  invented  in  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty- 
three,  and  used  in  building  -  the  United  States  Bank  at 
Boston.  This,  with  every  other  of  my  inventions,  I  have 
abandoned  to  the  public.  Every  railroad  in  the  country 


GRIDLEY  BRYANT.  121 

is  now  using  my  eight-wheeled  car,  and  I  have  never 
received  one  cent  for  the  invention.  My  turn-table  has 
also  been  adopted  by  all  railroads,  as  well  as  my  switches 
and  turnouts,  nor  have  I  been  paid  for  services  and  ex- 
penses incurred  in  the  lawsuits  which  were  commenced 
against  several  railroad  companies  by  Winans  for  his  pre- 
tended invention  of  my  eight-wheeled  car,  and  which  the 
Railroad  Companies  have  since  appropriated  to  themselves. 
"  The  Quincy  Railway  was  commenced  under  the  fol- 
lowing circumstances  :  The  ( Bunker  Hill  Monument 
Association '  had  been  formed,  and  funds  enough  collected 
to  commence  the  foundation  of  the  monument  in  the 
spring  of  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-five.  I  aided  the 
architect  in  preparing  the  foundation,  and  on  the  seven- 
teenth day  of  June  following,  the  corner-stone  was  laid  by 
General  de  La  Fayette,  and  I  had  the  honor  to  assist  as 
master  builder  at  the  ceremony.  I  had,  previous  to  this, 
purchased  a  stone  quarry  (the  funds  being  furnished  by 
Dr.  John  C.  Warren)  for  the  express  purpose  of  procuring 
the  granite  for  constructing  this  monument.  This  quarry 
was  in  Quincy,  nearly  four  miles  from  water-carriage. 
This  suggested  to  me  the  idea  of  a  railroad  (the  Manches- 
ter and  Liverpool  Railroad  being  in  contemplation  at  that 
time,  but  was  not  begun  until  the  spring  following)  ; 
accordingly,  in  the  fall  of  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty- 
five,  I  consulted  Thomas  H.  Perkins,  William  Sullivan, 
Amos  Lawrence,  Isaac  T.  Davis,  and  David  Moody,  all  of 
Boston,  in  reference  to  it.  These  gentlemen  thought  the 
project  visionary  and  chimerical,  but,  being  anxious  to  aid 
the  Bunker  Hill  Monument,  consented  that  I  might  see 


122  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

what  could  be  done.  I  awaited  the  meeting  of  our  Legis- 
lature in  the  winter  of  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-five 
and  six,  and  after  every  delay  and  obstruction  that  could 
be  thrown  in  the  way,  I  finally  obtained  a  charter, 
although  there  was  great  opposition  in  the  House.  The 
questions  were  asked :  l  What  do  we  know  about  rail- 
roads ?  Who  ever  heard  of  such  a  thing  ?  Is  it  right  to 
take  people's  land  for  a  project  that  no  one  knows  any- 
thing about?  We  have  corporations  enough  already/ 
Such  and  similar  objections  were  made,  and  onerous 
restrictions  were  imposed,  but  it  finally  passed  by  a  small 
majority  only.  Unfavorable  as  the  charter  was,  it  was 
admitted  that  it  was  obtained  by  my  exertions  ;  but  it 
was  owing  to  the  munificence  and  public  spirit  of  Colonel 
T.  H.  Perkins  that  we  were  indebted  for  the  whole  enter- 
prise. None  of  the  first  named  gentlemen  ever  paid  any 
assessments,  and  the  whole  stock  finally  fell  into  the  hands 
of  Colonel  Perkins. 

"The  Quincy  Railroad  is  four  miles  long,  including  the 
branches.  I  surveyed  several  routes  from  the  quarry 
purchased  (called  the  Bunker  Hill  Quarry),  to  the  nearest 
tide- water;  and  finally  the  present  location  was  decided 
upon.  I  commenced  the  work  on  the  first  day  of  April, 
eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-six,  and  on  the  seventh  day 
of  October  following  the  first  train  of  cars  passed  over  the 
whole  length  of  the  road. 

a  The  deepest  cutting  was  fifteen  feet,  and  the  highest 
elevation  above  the  surface  of  the  ground  was  twelve  feet. 
The  several  grades  were  as  follows  :  "  The  first,  commen- 
cing at  the  wharf  or  landing,  was  twenty-six  feet  to  the 


GRIDLEY  BRYANT.  123 

mile,  the  second  thirteen  feet,  and  the  third  sixty-six  feet. 
This  brought  us  to  the  foot  of  the  table-lands  that  ran 
around  the  main  quarry  ;  here  an  elevation  of  eighty-four 
feet  vertical  was  to  be  overcome.  This  was  done  by  an 
inclined  plane,  three  hundred  and  fifteen  feet  long,  at  an 
angle  of  about  fifteen  degrees.  It  had  an  endless  chain, 
to  which  the  cars  were  attached  in  ascending  or  descend- 
ing ;  at  the  head  of  this  inclined  plane  I  constructed  a 
swing  platform  to  receive  the  loaded  cars  as  they  came 
from  the  quarry.  This  platform  was  balanced  by  weights, 
and  had  gearing  attached  to  it  in  such  a  manner  that  it 
would  always  return  (after  having  dumped)  to  a  horizon- 
tal position,  being  firmly  supported  on  the  periphery  of 
an  eccentric  cam.  When  the  cars  were  out  on  the  plat- 
form there  was  danger  of  their  running  entirely  over,  and 
I  constructed  a  self-acting  guard,  that  would  rise  above 
the  surface  of  the  rail  upon  the  platform  as  it  rose  from 
its  connection  with  the  inclined  plain,  or  receded  out  of 
the  way  when  the  loaded  car  passed  on  to  the  track  ;  the 
weight  of  the  car  depressing  the  platform  as  it  was 
lowered  down. 

"I  also  constructed  a  turn-table  at  the  foot  of  the 
quarry,  which  is  still  in  use  as  originally  constructed. 
The  railroad  was  continued  at  different  grades  around  the 
quarry,  the  highest  part  of  which  was  ninety-three  feet 
above  the  general  level ;  on  the  top  of  this  was  erected  an 
obelisk  or  monument  forty-five  feet  high. 

"The  road  was  constructed  in  the  following  manner: 
Stone  sleepers  were  laid  across  the  track  eight  feet 
apart.  Upon  these,  wooden  rails,  six  inches  thick  and 


124  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

twelve  inches  high,  were  placed.  Upon  the  top  of  these 
rails,  iron  plates,  three  inches  wide  and  one-fourth  of  an 
inch  thick,  were  fastened  with  spikes ;  but  at  all  the 
crossings  of  public  roads  and  drift- ways  stone  rails  were 
used  instead  of  wood.  On  the  top  of  these  were  placed 
iron  plates  four  inches  wide  and  half  an  inch  thick, 
being  firmly  bolted  to  the  stone.  The  inclined  plane 
was  built  in  the  same  permanent  manner  and  had  a 
double  track. 

"  The  first  cost  of  the  road  was  fifty  thousand  dollars, 
and  that  of  the  first  car  six  hundred  dollars.  This  car 
had  high  wheels,  six  and  one-half  feet  in  diameter,  the 
load  being  suspended  on  a  platform  by  chains  under  the 
axles.  This  platform  was  let  down  at  any  convenient 
place  and  loaded  ;  the  car  was  then  run  over  the  load, 
and  the  chains  attached  to  it  by  being  inserted  in  eye-bolts 
in  the  platform,  and  raise.d  a  little  above  the  track  by 
machinery  on  the  top  of  the  car.  The  loads  averaged 
about  six  tons  each.  The  next  car  was.  made  with  low 
wheels,  with  a  strong  massive  frame.  The  gauge  of  the 
road  being  five  feet,  the  axles  were  placed  that  distance 
apart,  this  being  the  true  principle  on  which  to  construct 
railroad  trucks,  and  has  been  adopted  generally  in  this 
country. 

"  When  stones  of  eight  or  ten  tons  weight  were  to  be 
transported,  I  took  two  of  these  trucks  and  attached  them 
together  by  a  platform  and  king  bolts.  This  made  an 
eight-wheeled  car  ;  and  when  larger  stones  were  to  be 
carried,  I  increased  the  number  of  trucks,  and  this  made 
a  sixteen-wheeled  car.  This  was  used  to  transport  the 


GRIDLEY  BRYANT.  125 

columns  for  the  Court  House  in  Boston,  each  one  weigh- 
ing sixty-four  tons  in  the  rough. 

"In  the  course  of  a  few  years  the  wooden  rails  began 
to  decay,  and  it  was  necessary  to  replace  them.  This  was 
done  by  substituting  stone  in  the  place  of  wooden  rails, 
using  the  stone  transverse  sleepers  that  had  originally 
been  laid.  The  same  mode  of  securing  the  iron  plates  to 
the  stone  was  adopted,  and  every  part  of  the  track  is  as 
perfect  now  as  it  was  thirty  years  ago,  although  it  has 
been  in  use  ever  since,  and  the  Treasurer  of  the  Company 
informs  me  that  it  has  not  cost  ten  dollars  a  year  to  keep 
the  road  in  repair. 

"  All  the  cars,  tracks,  and  machinery  are  my  original 
inventions.  I  never  began  work  of  any  kind  without 
thoroughly  investigating  the  principles  and  proportions 
that  would  produce  the  greatest  effect ;  and  in  building 
the  cars,  tracks,  and  machinery  for  the  inclined  plane,  and 
all  the  hoisting  apparatus,  none  of  my  first  productions  were 
ever  altered  by  myself,  nor  has  any  new  machinery  been 
substituted,  or  alteration  made  by  those  who  have  had 
the  management  of  the  road  from  the  time  I  left  it  to  this 
day.  Most  of  iny  original  machinery  being  in  use  at  the 
present  time.'7  * 

The  car  constructed  by  Bryant  had  a  frame  for  a  body, 
which  consisted  of  three  timbers  extending  longitudinally, 
and  resting  with  each  end  on  a  cross  bolster,  to  which 

*  Compiled  for  this  volume  from  the  records  in  the  case  of  Winans  vs.  the  New 
York  and  Erie  Railroad  et.  al.,  by  Hon.  Wheeler  Hubbell  (attorney  for  defendants), 
Philadelphia,  Penn. 


126  CIYIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

they  were  firmly  bolted ;  there  being  two  of  these  bolsters, 
each  resting  upon  and  across  a  four-wheel  carriage  or 
truck,  having  centre  plates  and  side  bearings  of  iron,  and 
secured  in  the  middle  to  each  truck  by  a  vertical  king 
bolt,  to  allow  a  horizontal  swivelling  motion  between 
them  and  the  bolsters,  similar  to  the  king  bolt  and  bolster 
of  a  road  wagon. 

Each  truck  or  four-wheel  carriage  was  constructed  with 
two  heavy  timbers,  to  each  of  which  was  bolted  an  iron 
axle-tree.  The  wheels  were  of  cast  iron,  with  inside 
flanges  and  treads  running  upon  edge  rails.  These  wheels 
were  about  eighteen  inches  in  diameter,  and  revolved 
separately  upon  the  fixed  axles,  and  not  in  pairs  with  the 
axles,  as  in  the  cars  now  in  use. 

The  distance  between  the  bearing  points  of  the  wheels 
on  the  rails  was  five  feet  in  each  truck,  and  about  five  feet 
between  the  trucks.  The  gauge  of  the  track  was  five 
feet.  Each  truck  had  a  platform  covering  of  plank  fas- 
tened to  its  frame.  They  had  no  pedestals  or  springs, 
and  could  be  used  separately  when  needed  as  four-wheel 
cars. 

The  main  body  or  frame  to  connect  the  trucks,  when 
used  as  an  eight-wheel  car,  terminated  about  eighteen 
inches  beyond  the  middle  of  each  truck.  They  had  no 
projecting  platform  or  bumper,  and  in  the  use  of  two  such 
cars  together  their  trucks  would  collide.  They  were 
drawn  by  horses  attached  to  the  trucks,  and  had  no 
arrangement  for  draft  by  the  body,  or  for  connection  in 
trains,  or  for  general  railroad  transportation.  These  cars 


GRIDLEY  BRYANT.  127 

exhibited  the  swivelling  principle  of  two  trucks  connected 
to  one  carrying  body,  adapted  to  transporting  granite,  or 
other  heavy  bodies,  and  not  suited  to  any  other  purpose. 
These  carriages  were  continued  in  use  on  the  Quincy  Rail- 
road for  twenty-five  years. 

In  the  suit  of  Ross  Winans  vs.  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad  Company,  the  Bryant  car  was  put  in  evidence 
against  the  validity  of  the  Winans  patent,  granted  for  the 
eight-wheel  car,  October  first,  eighteen  hundred  and 
thirty-four,  and  the  jury  found  a  verdict  against  the  patent, 
upon  a  legal  construction  given  to  the  specification  by 
Judge  Hall.  From  this  construction  of  the  patent  a  writ 
of  error  was  taken  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  which  latter  Court  confirmed  the  decision  of  the 
Court  below.  The  specification  of  Ross  Winans  drew  only 
a  distinguishing  line  between  the  eight- wheel  carriage  and 
the  four-wheel  carriage,  and  claimed  the  general  principle 
of  construction  of  the  eight- wheel  carriage,  where  it  should 
have  distinguished  between  Bryant's  car  and  the  eight- 
wheel  carriage  as  constructed  and  adapted  in  its  combina- 
tions and  appliances  for  use  in  trains  at  high  speed,  and 
for  transporting  freight  and  passengers.  This  was  what 
Ross  Winans  invented  and  put  into  practical  operation. 
His  patent  failed  because  it  was  too  broad,  and  not  limited 
to  the  actual  invention  he  made. 

No  railroad  invention  ever  gave  rise  to  more  contro- 
versy than  the  eight- wheel  railroad  car,  and  in  none  was 
greater  talent  employed  on  both  sides  of  the  question. 
About  five  years  of  time,  and  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars,  were  expended  in  the  litigation  before  a 


128  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

final  decision  was  obtained  against  the  patent,*  and  the 
immense  claims,  which  would  aggregate  several  millions 
of  dollars,  advanced  under  it. 

The  first  practical  eight- wheel  railroad  cars  for  freight 
or  passengers,  essentially  alike  in  their  construction  and 
combined  principles,  were  invented  and  built  by  Ross 
Winans,  of  Baltimore,  in  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-four 
and  five,  for  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  Company, 
and  these  cars  were  run  and  used  in  trains  in  the  general 
business  of  that  Company  upon  their  road,  and  upon  the 
Washington  branch.  Mr.  Winans  commenced  his  experi- 
ments in  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty. 

The  progress  of  improvement  has  developed  additional 
means  of  giving  ease  of  motion,  of  comfort,  and  economy 
in  their  use,  and  improvements  in  connecting  the  brakes. 

A  full  record  of  the  career  of  Gridley  Bryant  might 
truthfully  be  termed  the  history  of  a  busy  and  useful  life. 
From  early  boyhood  to  a  ripe  old  age  we  find  him  con- 
stantly and  usefully  employed  upon  works  in  which  self 
was  always  subordinate  to  the  public  good.  Before  he 
had  fully  arrived  at  man's  estate  he  was  sought  for,  and 
intrusted  with  the  construction  of  important  public  work. 
His  labors  were  greatly  cheered  by  the  society  and  encour- 
agement of  men  eminent  in  science,  the  arts,  and  social 
standing  ;  foremost  among  them  was  Colonel  Loammi 
Baldwin,  a  distinguished  Surveyor  and  Civil  Engineer, 
with  whom  he  was  employed  in  eighteen  hundred  and 


*  This  decision,  while  it  did  not  benefit  Mr.  Bryant  pecuniarily,  sustained  his 
claim  as  the  first  inventor  of  the  eight-wheel  car. 


GRIDLEY  BRYANT.  129 

twelve,  by  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts  (Hon.  John 
Brooks),  in  repairing  and  constructing  batteries  and  other 
defences  for  the  harbor  of  Boston,  on  Governor's  Island, 
and  Dorchester  Heights. 

Mr.  Bryant,  in  a  letter  to  the  author,  of  February, 
eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-nine,  relates  many  interesting 
incidents  and  anecdotes  of  Colonel  Baldwin,  who  was  justly 
held  in  high  esteem  by  all  who  knew  him,  for  his  great 
learning,  engineering  skill,  and  unswerving  integrity.  A 
warm  friendship  sprang  up  between  these  two  men,  which 
continued  through  life.  Mr.  Bryant  says,  "since  our 
acquaintance  began,  he  has  been  my  best  and  most 
esteemed  friend."  He  adds,  "  Colonel  Baldwin's  father 
constructed  the  Middlesex  Canal,  from  Boston  to  Lowell, 
a  distance  of  about  twenty-six  miles,  and,  if  I  am  not 
mistaken,  the  first  levelling  instrument  ever  used  in  this 
country  was  employed  in  the  location  of  this  pioneer  canal.11 

A  letter  from  Gridley  J.  F.  Bryant,  of  Boston,  dated 
the  fifteenth  of  November,  eighteen  hundred  and  seventy, 
in  answer  to  the  inquiries  of  the  author  respecting  the 
events  in  the  closing  years  of  Gilbert  Bryant,  says  :  "My 
father  died  at  Scituate,  Mass.,  on  the  thirteenth  of  June, 
eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-seven,  aged  seventy-seven 
years  and  ten  months.  The  last  few  years  of  his  life  were 
marked  by  no  important  events,  as  physical  disability  un- 
fitted him  for  any  active  position.  After  his  invaluable 
services  to  the  several  Railroad  Corporations,  in  the 
'Ross  Winans  Suit/  his  health  and  spirits  were  impaired 
by  the  oft-repeated  promises  made  to  him  of  ample  com- 
pensation. Owing  to  business  losses  he  had  become  quite 


130  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

reduced  in  circumstances  ;  but,  about  the  time  of  the  trial, 
the  near  prospect  of  being  again  independent  recalled  for 
a  time  much  of  his  former  energy,  as  proved  by  hb  rising 
from  a  bed  of  sickness  and  journeying  to  New  York  to  be 
present  at  the  court.  After  waiting  long  in  expectation 
of  the  promised  remuneration  (being  several  times  assured 
that  his  claims  would  eventually  be  considered),  he  was  at 
length  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  he  had  wasted  his 
time  and  strength  in  vain,  and  that  their  obligations  to 
him  were  wholly  ignored.  With  the  uncomplaining  spirit 
of  a  proud  and  reticent  man,  he  bore  his  disappointments 
in  silence,  and  gave  up  this  last  hope  of  his  old  age.  On 
Christmas  morning,  of  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-six,  he 
had  an  attack  of  paralysis,  from  which,  however,  he  re- 
covered, but  he  did  not  leave  his  room  during  the  winter. 
With  all  his  physical  infirmities  his  mind  remained  as 
bright  and  clear  as  before,  and  his  interest  in  intellectual 
pursuits  unabated.  Only  the  night  before  his  last  attack, 
he  was  engaged  in  reading  a  scientific  work  until  about 
nine  o'clock.  The  next  morning  he  rose  as  usual,  and 
after  breakfast  went  out  to  superintend  some  gardening, 
when  suddenly  the  fatal  stroke  came.  He  was  assisted  to 
the  house,  and  after  a  brief  interval  rallied,  and  retained 
his  consciousness  for  an  hour  or  two,  during  which  time 
he  conversed  in  such  firm  and  earnest  tones  that  his  wife 
could  hardly  believe,  what  he  felt  was  sure,  that  the  final 
summons  had  come.  He  gave  her  the  minutest  directions 
in  regard  to  business  matters,  messages  for  absent  children 
and  friends,  and  an  earnest  assurance  that  he  had  no  fear 
of  death.  After  this  he  was  carried  to  his  bed  and  was 


GRIDLEY  BRYANT.  131 

soon  in  strong  convulsions,  having  only  occasionally  a 
moment's  consciousness,  until  his  departure.  When  dying 
he  motioned  his  attendants  to  place  him  in  an  arm  chair. 
This  wish  was  understood  and  granted.  Seated  facing  a 
window  which  commanded  a  familiar  view  of  the  beautiful 
scenery  which  he  could  so  well  appreciate,  on  that  bright 
June  morning,  calmly,  without  a  struggle,  he  entered  into 
his  rest.'7 


GENERAL  JOSEPH  G.  SWIFT, 

CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEER. 


THE  events  in  the  brilliant  and  honorable  career  of  this 
distinguished  engineer  are  perhaps  unparalleled  in  the 
history  of  American  engineering,  for  the  rapid  advances 
made  in  professional  promotion,  and  the  varied  and  re- 
sponsible duties  so  early  undertaken  and  so  successfully 
accomplished.  His  name  stands  at  the  head  of  the  Army 
of  the  United  States  as  the  first  graduate  of  the  Military 
Academy  at  West  Point.  His  subsequent  career  strik- 
ingly illustrates  the  power  of  well-directed  talent,  energy 
and  industry,  combined  with  a  laudable  ambition  to  attain 
the  most  important  positions  of  honor  and  trust,  under 
the  fostering  influences  of  our  free  institutions,  which  so 
admirably  develop  individual  as  well  as  national  char- 
acter. 

Joseph  Gardner  Swift  was  a  descendant  of  Thomas 
Swift  and  Hopestill  Foster,  who  were  the  first  settlers  of 
Dorchester,  Mass.,  in  sixteen  hundred  and  thirty.  His 
grandfather,  Samuel  Swift,  was  a  lawyer  of  Boston,  men- 
tioned by  the  elder  Adams  in  his  "  Memoirs/7  who  fell  a 
martyr  to  the  cause  of  liberty,  at  its  dawn,  in  seventeen 
hundred  and  seventy-five.  His  father,  Dr.  Foster  Swift, 

132       • 


GENERAL  JOSEPH  G.  SWIFT.  133 

was  a  prisoner  on  board  the  frigate  ' '  Culloden, "  seventy- 
four,  of  the  fleet  of  Commodore  Rodney,  in  seventeen 
hundred  and  eighty-two,  and  died  a  surgeon  in  the  United 
States  Army,  in  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-five. 

Joseph  was  born  on  the  last  day  of  the  year,  seventeen 
hundred  and  eighty-three,  at  the  house  of  his  grandfather, 
Thomas  Delano,  in  Nantucket,  and  was  named  by  his 
father  in  compliment  to  his  old  teacher,  Doctor  Joseph 
Gardner,  of  Boston.  His  academic  education  he  acquired 
under  the  tutelage  of  Rev.  Simeon  Daggat,  at  the  Bristol 
Academy  at  Tauriton,  where  he  was  prepared  for  entering 
Harvard  College.  In  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety-nine 
the  Fourteenth  Regiment  of  U.  S.  Infantry  was  encamped 
on  the  banks  of  the  Taunton  river,  and  very  naturally 
excited  the  admiration  and  attention  of  a  youth  of  sixteen, 
and  awakened  an  enthusiasm  for  military  life.  By  the 
advice,  and  with  the  assistance  of  General  David  Cobb,  a 
cadetship  was  procured  for  young  Swift  from  President 
John  Adams. ;  and  in  the  year  eighteen  hundred  he 
reported  himself  for  duty  to  the  veteran  Colonel  Tousard, 
at  the  fortifications  of  Newport  Harbor.  He  was  shortly 
afterwards  sent  to  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point, 
and  graduated  at  that  institution  in  eighteen  hundred  and 
two,  at  the  early  age  of  eighteen,  and  was  immediately 
promoted  Second  Lieutenant  in  the  U.  S.  Corps  of 
Military  Engineers  and  ordered  to  duty  upon  the  harbor 
defences  of  the  Atlantic  coast. 

After  six  years  of  experience  in  this  important  field  of 
duty,  and  earning  by  his  talents  and  skill  the  three  several 
promotions  of  First  Lieutenant,  Captain,  and  Major  of 


134  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

Engineers,  he  was  employed  in  fortifying  the  harbors  of 
New  England.  Upon  the  commencement  of  the  war  of 
eighteen  hundred  and  twelve  he  had  reached  the  rank  of 
Lieutenant-Colonel  of  Engineers,  and  was  detailed  as 
Aid-de-Camp  to  Major-General  Pinckney,  in  the  Carolinas; 
and  in  the  same  year  succeeded  the  veteran  Colonel 
Jonathan  Williams  in  the  command  of  the  United  States 
Corps  of  Engineers,  and  Superintendent  of  the  Military 
Academy,  with  the  rank  of  Colonel.* 

In  the  following  year,  Colonel  Swift,  as  the  Chief  Engi- 
neer of  the  United  States  Army,  under  the  command  of 
Major-General  Wilkinson,  won  distinction  and  promotion 
as  Brevet  Brigadier-General,  "  for  meritorious  services " 
in  the  memorable  campaigns  of  eighteen  hundred  and 
thirteen  and  fourteen,  on  the  St.  Lawrence  river,  and  the 
defence  of  the  city  and  harbor  of  New  York,  including 
Brooklyn  and  Harlem  Heights.  For  this  last  service,  the 
city  of  New  York,  by  her  corporate  authorities,  conferred 
upon  General  Swift  marks  of  distinction  •"  as  her  bene- 
factor.'11 By  a  singular  coincidence  that  metropolis  was 
saved,  twenty-one  years  thereafter,  from  a  more  terrible 
destroyer  than  a  hostile  army,  mainly,  it  is  believed, 
through  the  skill  and  presence  of  mind  of  this  same  Engi- 
neer, who  advised  and  directed  the  application  of  blasting 
powder  to  arrest  the  great  conflagration  of  December, 

*  "Although  the  law  had  contemplated  that  the  Corps  of  Engineers  should  be 
stationed  at  West  Point,  its  duties  soon  became  so  extensive  that  the  Chief  of  the 
Corps  could  not  be  present  continuously  at  the  Academy,  but  by  direction  of  the 
President  he  was,  previous  to  eighteen  hundred  and  fifteen,  charged  with  the 
administration  of  its  affairs,  conveying  his  orders  when  absent  to  the  senior 
Engineer  officer  at  the  Institution,  who  thus  exercised  the  functions  of  Super- 
intendent."—From  "Boynton's  History  of  West  Point." 


GENERAL  JOSEPH  G.  SWIFT.  135 

eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-five.  For  a  similar  subse- 
quent service  at  Quebec  an  English  officer  was  knighted. 

After  the  termination  of  the  war,  General  Swift  became 
Inspector  of  the  United  States  Military  Academy,  which 
office  he  held  from  February  twenty-eighth,  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  fifteen,  to  November  twelfth,  eighteen  hundred 
and  eighteen.  From  November  twenty-fifth,  eighteen 
hundred  and  sixteen,  to  January  thirteenth,  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  seventeen,  he  was  also  its  Superintendent,  hold- 
ing his  commission  as  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Army  until 
his  resignation  in  eighteen  hundred  and  eighteen.  The 
President  of  the  United  States  appointed  a  distinguished 
French  officer  (General  Bernard)  to  examine  the  sites  of, 
and  plans  for,  the  works  of  defence  made  by  the  Engi- 
neers of  the  United  States,  of  which  General  Swift  was 
the  Chief.  This  action  of  the  Executive  caused  a  number 
of  the  subordinate  officers  of  the  corps  to  resign,  with 
their  Chief,  and  to  solicit  civil  service.  This  procedure 
wounded  the  pride  of  a  corps  of  young  men,  who  had 
been  educated  by  the  nation  to  plan  and  construct  its 
defences,  and  who  had  won  distinction  in  the  late  war 
with  Great  Britain,  and  was  certainly  of  doubtful  policy. 
After  General  Bernard  had  been  recalled  to  France  to 
become  its  Minister  of  War,  our  Government  found  the 
alterations  and  new  plans  made  and  proposed  by  him  to 
be,  in  almost  every  instance,  unsuited  to  our  defences,  and 
they  were  consequently  mainly  abandoned. 

Immediately  after  General  Swift's  resignation,  he  was 
appointed  by  the  President  to  the  office  of  Surveyor  of  the 
Port  of  New  York,  which  city  he  had  so  ably  assisted  to 


136  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

defend  in  eighteen  hundred  and  fourteen.  He  discharged 
the  important  duties  of  this  office  for  nine  consecutive 
years.  After  his  retirement  from  the  Revenue  service  he 
made  some  business  connections  in  Wall  street,  which 
resulted  unfavorably,  and  induced  him  to  retire  for  a  time 
to  an  estate  of  his  wife's  in  Tennessee,  and  become  a 
cotton  planter. 

Owing  to  the  ill-health  of  his  family  at  the  South,  Gen- 
eral Swift  returned  with  them  in  eighteen  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  to  the  North,  and  shortly  after  commenced 
his  career  as  a  Civil  Engineer  in  charge  of  the  Baltimore 
and  Susquehanna  Railroad,  in  Maryland.  His  marked 
ability,  skill,  and  energy  as  an  engineer,  commended  him, 
in  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-nine,  to  President  Jack- 
son as  a  suitable  person  to  superintend  the  harbor  im- 
provements on  the  lakes,  then  undertaken  by  the  Federal 
Government,  and  the  industry,  talent,  and  devotion  dis- 
played by  him  in  the  discharge  of  this  important  duty,  for 
sixteen  years,  fully  justified  the  sagacity  and  judgment  of 
that  distinguished  Chief  Magistrate.  General  Swift 
greatly  aided  by  his  untiring  efforts  and  labors  to  promote 
the  construction  of  these  improvements,  and  the  fact  of 
their  commanding  importance  in  protecting  and  develop- 
ing the  growing  commerce  of  the  lakes  was  established. 

Deeply  is  if  to  be  deplored  that  the  Government  has, 
from  causes  political  or  otherwise,  allowed  these  struc- 
tures, erected  at  a  cost  of  millions  of  dollars,  to  fall  into 
ruin  and  decay,  and  thus  to  fill  up  the  channels  and  har- 
bors they  were  originally  designed  to  open  and  protect. 

In  the  winter  of  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty  and  thirty- 


GENERAL  JOSEPH  G.  SWIFT.  137 

one,  General  Swift  constructed  the  railroad  from  New 
Orleans  to  Lake  Pontchartrain,  five  miles  in  length,  being 
one  of  the  pioneer  railroads  of  the  South,  and  it  is  believed 
the  first  railroad  in  America  using  iron  T  rails. 

General  Swift  won  much  credit  to  himself  by  the  skill 
displayed  in  the  construction  of  this  work  through  what 
had  hitherto  been  considered  an  impassable  cypress 
swamp,  almost  fathomless,  and  not  susceptible  of  drainage 
or  piling. 

In  prosecuting  this  work  he  engaged  a  gang  of  carpen- 
ters and  workmen  from  the  North,  and  between  the 
months  of  November  and  May  cut  a  straight  line  of  suffi- 
cient width,  and  four  miles  long,  through  this  dense 
swamp,  using  the  cypress  trees,  from  one  to  two  feet  in 
diameter,  which  they  felled,  for  a  massive  frame  work,  built 
with  cross  ties  and  string  pieces,  and  secured  by  wedges, 
for  the  superstructure  to  rest  upon.  Around  this  frame 
were  filled  quantities  of  the  "  Fossil  shells  of  the  mounds,'7 
to  give  it  stability  and  strength,  being  the  first  use  made  of 
these  shells  for  such  a  purpose,  but  which  have  since  been 
successfully  used  for  the  formation  of  the  celebrated  "  shell 
road  "  to  Lake  Pontchartrain,  and  of  the  streets  of  New 
Orleans. 

After  the  completion  of  the  wooden  structure  of  this 
railroad,  and  before  the  arrival  of  the  iron  rails  and  loco- 
motive engine  from  England,  the  Hon.  Henry  Clay  visited 
New  Orleans,  with  his  wife,  for  a  few  days.  General 
Swift,  in  compliment  to  the  early  and  steadfast  friend 
and  advocate  of  the  great  national  road  to  "  unite  the 
Union/'  determined  to  give  that  distinguished  statesman 


138 


CIYIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 


his  "first  ride  on  a  railroad"  before  his  departure  from 
the  city. 

Accordingly,  he  disciplined  half  a  dozen  of  his  carpen- 
ters to  use  iron-shod  poles  to  force  over  the  wooden  frame 
and  track  a  platform  car,  constructed  with  wheels  of  wood, 
the  flanges  of  which  were  cut  from  the  pecan  tree,  by 
which  primitive  and  novel  mode  of  locomotion  a  speed  of 
nine  miles  an  hour  was  attained  from  the  city  to  the  lake, 
greatly  to  the  amusement  and  gratification  of  Mr.  Clay 
and  his  wife,  and  which  he  often  afterwards  referred  to  as 
his  "first  ride  on  a  railroad." 


HENRY  CLAY'S  FIRST  RAILROAD  RIDE. 


In  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-two  General  Swift  suc- 
ceeded Benjamin  Wright  as  the  Chief  Engineer  of  the 
New  York  and  Harlem  Railroad,  of  which  he  remained  in 
charge  until  the  following  year. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-one,  upon  the  recom- 
mendation of  John  Bell,  then  Secretary  of  War,  President 


GENERAL  JOSEPH  G.  SWIFT.  139 

Harrison  sent  General  Swift  on  an  embassy  of  peace  to 
the  Governors  of  Canada,  Nova  Scotia,  and  New  Bruns- 
wick. 

In  the  years  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-one  and  fifty- 
two  he  made  the  tour  of  Europe,  accompanied  by  his  son, 
McRea  Swift,  Civil  Engineer,  the  particulars  of  which 
are  in  his  diary,  and  would  fill  a  very  large  volume  of 
much  interest  and  value. 

From  boyhood,  following  the  example  of  his  father,  it 
was  the  habit  of  General  Swift,  during  his  life,  to  record 
daily  the  scenes  and  events  of  his  life  and  times.  This 
journal  or  diary  contains  also  a  history  of  the  Military 
Academy  at  West  Point,  the  biography  of  President 
Monroe,  with  various  essays  on  scientific  and  literary  sub- 
jects, which  are  left  to  the  disposal  of  his  children  and  the 
United  States  Corps  of  Engineers. 

General  Swift  was  a  very  vigorous  and  terse  writer, 
possessed  an  unusual  memory  and  acuteness  of  intellect, 
refined  by  careful  study,  and  enriched  by  judicious  read- 
ing and  much  intercourse  with  the  world.  His  conversa- 
tional powers  were  of  a  high  order,  which,  together  with 
his  great  and  varied  experience,  ardent  feelings,  and  en- 
gaging manners,  made  him  the  centre  of  a  wide  circle  of 
devoted  friends. 

In  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  five  General  Swift 
married  Louisa,  the  daughter  of  Captain  James  Walker, 
of  Wilmington,  North  Carolina.  In  eighteen  hundred  and 
twenty-nine  General  Swift  removed  to  Geneva,  Ontario 
County,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  purchased  a  home 
on  the  banks  of  the  Seneca  Lake,  in  that  beautiful  village, 


140  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

where  he  reared  a  large  family  of  intelligent  and  accom- 
plished sons  and  daughters. 

Two  of  his  sons  died  in  the  service  of  their  country 
— one  from  exposure  in  the  line  of  his  duty  as  Civil 
Engineer  ;  the  other,  a  promising  officer  of  the  United 
States  Engineers,  in  the  Mexican  war.  Another  son, 
Jonathan  Williams,  an  officer  in  the  United  States  naval 
service,  was  crippled  for  life  on  board  of  the  frigate 
Brandy  wine. 

General  Swift  always  interested  himself  in  the  passing 
events  and  movements  of  the  day,  especially  in  all  new 
improvements,  both  for  utility  and  defence,  and  frequently 
contributed  valuable  papers  to  the  scientific  periodicals  of 
the  country. 

In  a  characteristic  letter  to  the  author,  in  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  fifty-nine,  he  modestly  estimates  the  most  im- 
portant of  his  long  public  services  to  have  been  the  pro- 
motion of  young  men  of  merit  in  the  army  and  civil 
service,  for  which  his  official  positions  gave  him  many 
opportunities.  In  his  religious  opinions  he  was  a  Low 
Churchman,  and  in  politics  a  Federalist  of  the  Washing- 
ton school. 

General  Swift  died  at  his  home  in  Geneva,  after  a  few 
days'  illness,  on  the  twenty-third  of  July,  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  sixty-five.  Rarely  has  it  fallen  to  the  lot  of  an 
American  citizen  to  reap  a  more  abundant  harvest  of 
honors  than  those  merited  by  him  through  the  devotion  of 
half  a  century  of  life  to  the  civil  and  military  service  of 
his  country,  and  to  retire  at  threescore  and  ten  with  so 
high  a  reputation  and  honorable  record  in  the  rank  of 
American  Engineers. 


forStuarls  Civil  SlvEitaiyEumneers  of  - 


JESSE  L.  WILLIAMS, 

CIVIL  ENGINEER. 


JESSE  L.  WILLIAMS,  who  for  a  period  of  over  forty 
years  has  been  connected  with  the  rise  and  progress  of 
public  works  in  the  States  of  Ohio  and  Indiana,  was  born 
in  Stokes  County,  in  the  State  of  North  Carolina,  on 
the  sixth  day  of  May,  eighteen  hundred  and  seven.  His 
parents,  Jesse  Williams  and  Sarah  T.  Williams,  of  whom 
he  is  the  youngest  son,  were  members  of  the  Society  of 
Friends. 

About  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  fourteen  his 
parents  removed  to  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  For  some  time 
after  the  close  of  the  war  of  eighteen  hundred  and  twelve, 
uncertainty  attended  every  business  enterprise.  This  in- 
volved the  father  in  pecuniary  losses,  which  prevented 
him  from  securing  for  his  young  son  the  most  favorable 
opportunities  for  acquiring  a  liberal  education.  In  his 
early  youth  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  one  of  the  pupils 
of  the  Lancasterian  Seminary  at  Cincinnati,  and  afterwards 
at  other  places  of  residence  in  villages  or  on  the  farm,  he 
had  only  the  small  educational  advantages  offered  in  such 
locations  for  the  portions  of  time  his  other  avocations 
would  allow. 

141 


142  ClVIL    AND    MlLITAEY    ENGINEERS. 

After  he  had  chosen  a  profession,  at  the  age  of  eighteen 
years,  his  mind,  one  of  the  most  marked  traits  of 
which  appears  in  its  power  'of  concentration  on  a  single 
object,  was  zealously  devoted  to  an  investigation  of  those 
branches  of  knowledge  which  seemed  to  have  the  most 
direct  relation  to  the  profession  of  his  choice.  In  the 
course  of  his  studies  his  varied  duties  in  engineering,  loca- 
tion and  construction,  enabled  him  to  combine  practice 
with  theory.  It  seems,  indeed,  that,  trained  up  amidst 
pioneer  society,  he  is,  in  a  great  degree,  like  many  others 
in  the  West,  in  every  profession,  self-made  and  self- 
educated.  The  few  years  which,  under  more  favorable 
circumstances,  he  might  have  passed  in  college,  were  em- 
ployed necessarily  in  tilling  the  soil.  A  vigorous  constitu- 
tion thus  acquired,  with  habits  of  industry,  temperance, 
and  untiring  energy,  were  the  compensatory  advantages  ; 
and  with  these  sustaining  and  giving  force  to  an  inherent 
ambition,  he  was  doubtless  encouraged  in  his  early  man- 
hood to  believe  that  success  and  honorable  distinction  in 
his  profession  were  not  beyond  his  reach. 

Although  he  has  often  been  heard  to  regret  the  want  of 
opportunities  and  leisure  in  early  life  for  the  acquisition 
of  higher  attainments  in  general  learning ,  yet,  as  tested 
by  the  demands  of  a  long,  varied,  and  successful  profes- 
sional career,  it  would  seem  that  the  lack  of  early  advan- 
tages has  been  mainly  overcome.  His  acquirements, 
theoretical  and  practical,  under  the  guidance  of  a  sound 
and  discriminating  judgment,  have  been  adequate  to  the 
faithful  discharge  of  the  difficult  and  complex  duties  of  the 
various  official  stations  in  which  he  has  been  placed. 


JESSE  L.  WILLIAMS.  143 

The  year  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-five  was  marked 
by  an  achievement  in  practical  science  and  statesmanship 
which,  for  the  times,  was  bold  and  far-reaching  in  results. 
The  completion  of  water  communication  between  Lake 
Erie  and  tide-water  placed  the  State  of  New  York  in  a 
greatly  advanced  position,  attracting  the  attention  of  the 
Union.  Other  States  caught  the  spirit  of  internal  im- 
provement. Ohio  accepted  it  as  her  mission  to  extend 
the  line  of  artificial  water  communication  from  the  Lakes 
to  the  Ohio  river. 

It  was  under  the  inspiration  of  these  works  of  internal 
improvement,  great  for  their  day,  that  the  subject  of  this 
memoir,  then  on  the  farm  in  Indiana ,  was  permitted,  at 
the  age  of  seventeen,  to  take  a  subordinate  place  in  the 
Corps  of  Engineers,  which,  early  in  the  year  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  twenty-four,  had  been  detailed  in  charge  of 
Samuel  Forrer,  Civil  Engineer,  to  make  the  first  survey  of 
the  Miami  and  Erie  Canal  from  the  city  of  Cincinnati  to 
the  Maumee  Bay.  In  this  corps  his  position  was  that  of 
rodman,  and  his  pay  nine  dollars  per  month.  The  line  of 
the  survey,  for  the  distance  of  half  its  length,  lay  through 
an  unbroken  wilderness.  On  one  continuous  section  of 
forty  miles  no  white  man  was  found. 

Mr.  Williams  continued  to  serve  in  the  Corps  of  Engi- 
neers under  Mr.  Forrer,  in  the  final  location  and  construc- 
tion of  the  Miami  and  Erie  Canal,  and  had  charge,  as 
assistant,  of  the  heavy  and  difficult  division  next  to  Cin- 
cinnati. He  was  present  at  the  formal  breaking  of  ground 
in  Ohio  by  De  Witt  -Clinton,  and,  with  other  youthful 
engineers  in  the  service  of  the  State,  it  was  his  fortune  to 


144  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

take  the  hand  of  that  great  man  and  to  receive  from  him 
kind  and  encouraging  counsel,  prompting  to  perseverance, 
and  expressive  of  ardent  hopes  that  the  young  engineers 
in  his  presence  might  attain  honorable  distinction  in  their 
chosen  profession,  which  was  at  that  time  so  intimately 
related  to  the  growing  enterprise  of  the  country. 

On  account  of  the  sickness  of  the  Principal  Engineer 
during  the  latter  half  of  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven,  his  active  duties  were  temporarily  extended  over 
the  whole  work  between  Cincinnati  and  Dayton. 

In  the  spring  of  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-eight  the 
Chief  Engineer  of  Ohio,  David  S.  Bates,  appointed  Mr. 
Williams  to  take  charge  of  the  final  location  of  the  canal 
from  Licking  Summit,  near  Newark,  to  Chillicothe,  inclu- 
ding the  Columbus  side-cut ;  and  after  the  line  was  located 
and  placed  under  contract,  the  construction  of  the  division 
between  Circleville  and  a  point  south  of  Chillicothe,  was 
committed  to  his  supervision.  Among  the  works  on  this 
division  which  required  in  their  construction  great  care 
and  skill  were  the  dam  and  aqueduct  across  the  river 
Scioto. 

In  the  autumn  of  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty,  the 
Canal  Commissioners  of  Ohio  appointed  a  Board  of  En- 
gineers to  examine  and  decide  the  very  responsible  ques- 
tion of  supplying  with  water  the  summit  level  of  the 
Miami  and  Erie  Canal,  whether  by  a  system  of  artificial 
reservoirs  or  by  long  feeders  from  distant  streams.  Mr. 
"Williams,  then  twenty- three  years  old,  was  appointed  one 
of  this  Board.  Reservoirs  were  recommended  for  the 
main  supply,  one  of  which  is  still  in  advantageous  use, 


JESSE  L.  WILLIAMS.  145 

covering  fifteen  thousand  acres,  and  is  probably  the  largest 
artificial  lake  anywhere  known. 

Early  in  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-two  Mr. 
Williams  was  invited  by  the  Board  of  Commissioners  of 
the  Wabash  and  Erie  Canal,  to  take  charge,  as  Chief  En- 
gineer, of  the  location  and  construction  of  that  important 
work,  then  about  to  be  commenced  by  the  State  of  Indi- 
ana. The  appointment  was  accepted.* 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-four  Mr.  Williams  was 
appointed,  with  William  Gooding  as  associate  engineer,  to 
survey  the  White  Water  Yalley,  for  the  purpose  of  deter- 
mining the  practicability  of  constructing  a  canal  through 
that  valley  to  Lawrenceburg,  on  the  Ohio.  Their  joint 
report  was  made  to  the  Legislature,  and  published  among 
the  documents  of  the  session  of  eighteen  hundred  and 
thirty-four  and  five.  At  this  session  the  Legislature 
passed  an  act  authorizing  the  making  of  surveys  and  esti- 
mates for  canals  and  railroads  in  almost  every  part  of  the 
State. 

The  several  surveys  of  new  canals  in  Indiana,  ordered 
by  the  Legislature,  in  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-five, 
were  placed  under  his  general  supervision,  in  addition  to  his 


*  ' '  This  canal  was  constructed  literally  through  a  wilderness  and  in  places 
amongst  Indian  villages  and  wigwams.  At  the  village  of  White  Kaccoon,  the  log 
cabin  of  Cha-pine,  a  Miami  chief,  the  orator  of  the  tribe,  was  found  to  stand  exactly 
on  the  line  of  the  canal,  and  was  necessarily  moved  and  rebuilt  at  the  expense  of 
the  canal  fund,  and  to  the  great  disgust  of  the  Indian.  When  the  engineer's  stakes 
were  first  driven  and  marked  by  the  side  of  his  cabin,  Cha-pine  inquired  their 
meaning.  On  being  told  that  a  canal,  or,  to  bring  it  to  his  comprehension,  a  river, 
was  to  be  made,  his  incredulity  found  this  contemptuous  expression  :  'Can't  do 
it ;  wont  rain  enough  to  fill  it ;  white  man  a  fool ;  the  Great  Spirit  made  the 
rivers.'  The  idea  of  bringing  in  the  distant  St.  Joseph  of  course  did  not  enter  his 
untutored  mind;"— From  "Stuart's  American  Engineering,"  in  advance  of  publica- 
tion. 


146  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

charge  of  construction  on  the  Wabash  and  Erie  Canal,  and 
throughout  that  year  his  professional  duties  were  exceed- 
ingly diversified  and  laborious.  Still,  they  were  regarded 
by  him  as  intensely  interesting.  A  single  exploring  party, 
engaged  under  his  directions,  in  ascertaining,  in  advance  of 
the  surveyors  and  for  their  guidance,  the  relative  heights 
of  various  summits,  and  of  the  watercourses  for  the  supply 
of  the  canals,  ran  accurately  a  continuous  line  of  levels 
six  hundred  miles  in  extent  between  early  spring  and  the 
succeeding  autumn.  More  than  five  hundred  miles  of 
definite  location  of  canal  lines  were  made  by  the  different 
locating  parties,  and  estimates  thereof  were  reported  to 
the  Legislature  in  December,  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty- 
five,  by  the  respective  engineers  under  whose  especial 
charge  these  surveys  were  made,  with  the  general  advice 
of  Mr.  Williams. 

On  the  passage  of  the  law  authorizing  a  general  system 
of  internal  improvement,  approved  January  twenty- 
seventh,  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-six,  Mr.  Williams 
was  appointed  Chief  Engineer  of  all  the  canals  of  the 
State,  including  the  Wabash  and  Er.ie  Canal. 

At  this  period  he  had  under  his  charge  the  several  canal 
routes,  amounting  to  about  eight  hundred  miles,  portions 
of  which,  on  each  work,  were  in  progress  of  location  and 
construction.  In  September,  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty- 
seven,  the  Chief  Engineer  of  railroads  and  turnpikes 
having  resigned,  these  works  (also  under  like  progress) 
were,  by  the  action  of  the  State  Board  of  Internal  Im- 
provement, placed  under  the  charge  of  Mr.  Williams  as 
State  Engineer  ;  his  supervision  then  embraced  more  than 


JESSE  L.  WILLIAMS.  147 

thirteen  hundred  miles  of  authorized  public  works.  After- 
wards, when  the  appointing  power  was  changed,  he  was 
elected  by  the  Legislature  to  the  same  position,  and  con- 
tinued therein  until  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-one,  when 
the  prosecution  of  the  public  works,  except  the  Wabash 
and  Erie  Canal,  was  entirely  suspended. 

Perplexing  duties  and  great  labors  and  responsibilities 
were  necessarily  attached  to  the  position  which  he  so  long 
occupied  as  State  Engineer  of  Indiana.  The  general 
principles  of  every  survey  and  location,  the  plans  of  every 
important  structure,  and  the  letting  of  all  contracts,  came, 
in  their  order,  under  his  supervision. 

In  the  course  of  the  summer  and  autumn  of  eighteen 
hundred  and  thirty-eight  no  less  than  thirteen  public  let- 
tings  of  contracts  took  place  by  order  of  the  Board  of 
Internal  Improvement.  These  lettings,  which  were  held 
in  different  parts  of  Indiana  at  intervals  of  about  two 
weeks,  embraced  portions  of  each  work  included  in  the 
general  system  of  internal  improvements  which  had  been 
adopted  by  the  State.  With  such  facilities  for  travelling 
as  belonged  to  that  period,  a  punctual  attendance  at  the 
numerous  lettings,  and  the  making  of  necessary  prepara- 
tions for  those  meetings  of  contractors,  must  have  taxed 
the  mental  and  physical  energies  of  one  man  in  no  com- 
mon measure.  It  was  computed  at  the  time  by  those  who 
felt  some  interest  in  such  matters,  that  the  journeyings  of 
the  State  Engineer,  performed  mainly  on  horseback, 
during  the  three  months,  amounted  to  at  least  three 
thousand  miles.  These  facts  illustrate  in  some  measure 
the  difficulties  that  were  encountered  and  overcome  by 


148  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

the  pioneers  in  the  earlier  improvements  of  the  Western 
States. 

After  March,  eighteen  hundred  and  forty,  Mr.  Williams, 
in  addition  to  his  duties  and  responsibilities  as  State  Engi- 
neer, became,  by  appointment  of  the  Legislature,  ex-officio 
a  member  of  the  Board  of  Internal  Improvement,  and 
acting  Commissioner  of  the  Indiana  division  of  the 
Wabash  and  Erie  Canal.  In  the  discharge  of  the  various 
duties  of  these  stations,  he  acted  for  a  period  of  about  two 
years,  having  charge  also  of  the  selections,  management, 
and  sales  of  the  canal  lands.  It  may  be  of  historic  inter- 
est to  state  that  the  grant  of  alternate  sections  of  land  by 
act  of  Congress  of  March  second,  eighteen  hundred  and 
twenty-seven,  to  aid  in  building  the  Wabash  and  Erie 
Canal,  was  the  initiation  of  the  Land  Grant  policy,  which 
has  since  given  a  financial  basis  to  so  many  of  the  leading 
public  works  of  the  country.  As  State  Engineer,  the 
public  works  in  every  part  of  the  State  were  under  his 
general  charge  from  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-six  to 
eighteen  hundred  and  forty-two,  and  his  special  super- 
vision of  the  Wabash  and  Erie  Canal  was  continued  during 
this  period. 

The  prostration  of  State  credit  that  followed  the  finan- 
cial revulsion  of  eighteen  hundred  and  forty  checked  the 
progress  of  public  works  in  the  United  States.  From 
eighteen  hundred  and  forty-two  to  eighteen  hundred  and 
forty-seven,  the  subject  of  this  memoir  was  occupied  in 
mercantile  and  manufacturing  pursuits  at  Fort  Wayne,  the 
place  of  his  residence.  Before  leaving  the  capital  of  the 
State  of  Indiana  he  was  offered  the  Presidency  of  the 


JESSE  L.  WILLIAMS.  149 

Madison  and  Indianapolis  Railroad,  then  about  to  be  com- 
pleted under  the  management  of  a  company ;  the  offices  of 
President  and  Chief  Engineer  being  united  in  one. 

After  five  years'  suspension  an  arrangement  was  ma- 
tured for  the  completion,  to  the  Ohio  river,  of  the  Wabash 
and  Erie  Canal,  and  through  this,  as  a  basis  providing  for 
the  adjustment  of  the  Internal  Improvement  debt  of  the 
State.  In  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-seven  the  entire 
canal,  with  its  lands,  passed  into  the  hands  of  a  Board  of 
Trustees,  representing  both  the  State  and  the  holders  of  her 
bonds.  The  law  creating  this  trust,  and  providing  for  the 
adjustment  of  the  State  debt,  and  the  completion  of  the 
canal,  required  the  appointment  of  "  a  Chief  Engineer  of 
known  and  established  character  for  experience  and  in- 
tegrity." To  this  responsible  position  Mr.  Williams  was 
appointed  in  June,  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-seven,  at 
that  date  resuming  the  charge  of  this  work,  after  five  years' 
retirement.  He  yet  occupies  this  position,  with  the  sanc- 
tion of  the  Trustees  and  that  of  the  Governor,  thus  making 
his  professional  charge  of  the  Wabash  and  Erie  Canal  ex- 
tend over  a  period  of  thirty-four  years,*  having  at  the 
same  time  official  connection  with  important  railroads 
during  the  last  seventeen  years. 

In  February,  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-four,  he  was 
appointed  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Fort  Wayne  and  Chicago 
Railroad,  which  position  was  held  up  to  the  time  of  the 
consolidation  with  the  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio 


*  During  the  last  ten  years  the  canal  duties  required  but  little  personal  atten- 
tion from  the  Engineer,  though  as  this  office  was  established  by  the  law  creating 
the  canal  trust,  it  could  not  with  propriety  be  relinquished. 


150  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

and  Indiana  Railroads,  in  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-six. 
From  that  date  to  eighteen  hundred  and  seventy-one,  fif- 
teen years,  he  has  been  a  Director  of  the  Pittsburg,  Fort 
Wayne  and  Chicago  Railroad. 

In  July,  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-four,  Mr.  Williams 
was  appointed  by  President  Lincoln  a  Director  of  the 
Union  Pacific  Railroad  on  the  part  of  the  Government. 
The  term  being  but  one  year  under  the  law,  he  was  re- 
appointed  each  succeeding  year  until  the  work  was  com- 
pleted in  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-nine,  receiving  com- 
missions from  three  successive  Presidents. 

As  a  member  of  the  Standing  Committee  on  Location 
and  Construction,  the  important  engineering  questions  con- 
nected with  the  location  and  plan  of  this  work  across  the 
mountain  ranges  of  the  Continent,  came  within  his  sphere 
of  duty,  and  called  into  exercise  the  professional  experi- 
ence which  forty  years  of  public  service  enabled  him  to 
wield.  The  engineers  of  the  Company,  themselves  no 
doubt  competent,  appear  to  have  treated  Mr.  Williams 
with  great  respect.  In  the  fall  of  eighteen  hundred  and 
sixty-four,  by  invitation,  he  accompanied  the  Consulting 
Engineer  of  the  Company,  Colonel  Silas  Seymour,  over 
the  first  forty  miles  of  the  route,  then  in  process  of  con- 
struction, to  a  point  on  the  Platte  river,  west  of  Fremont. 

The  proper  construction  of  the  road,  with  a  permanence 
in  some  degree  proportioned  to  the  liberal  appropriation 
by  the  Government,  seems  to  have  early  claimed  his 
attention.  On  the  seventeenth  of  August,  eighteen  hundred 
and  sixty-five,  he  wrote  to  the  Hon.  Secretary  of  the 
Interior  as  follows  : 


JESSE  L.  WILLIAMS.  151 

"  It  seems  to  me,  both  as  respects  location  and  the 
general  plan  of  construction  of  this  great  national  work, 
the  Government,  either  through  its  Directors  or  otherwise, 
should  exercise  more  control.  Furnishing  as  it  does 
almost  the  entire  means  for  building  the  road,  it  is  con- 
trary to  all  analogy  that  the  Government  should  divest 
itself  of  power  to  direct,  as  respects  the  leading  points  in 
the  route  and  the  character  of  construction,  leaving  the 
great  subjects  so  entirely  in  the  control  of  the  Company 
and  the  contracting  interest." 

To  which  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  entertaining  the 
same  general  views,  replied,  August  twenty-sixth,  eighteen 
hundred  and  sixty-five,  as  follows  : 

"  Your  suggestion  for  the  amendment  of  that  act  (Pa- 
cific Railroad)  will  be  laid  before  Congress  at  its  next 
session  for  legislative  action.  In  the  meantime  I  hope  to 
be  able  to  obviate  the  defect  in  the  law  by  convening  the 
Government  Directors  and  several  Boards  of  Commis- 
sioners, in  conjunction  with  the  Government  Engineers, 
for  the  purpose  of  establishing  what  will,  in  the  future,  be 
regarded  as  the  standard  of  a  first-class  railroad." 

Mr.  Williams,  with  other  Government  Directors, 
attended  the  Board  thus  convened,  aiding,  as  far  as  in  his 
power,  in  the  adoption  of  a  judicious  standard  of  con- 
struction, and  in  establishing  the  general  principles  of 
location. 

The  policy  adopted  by  the  Union  Pacific  Board,  of  mak- 
ing very  elaborate  preliminary  surveys,  so  necessary  to 
the  selection  of  the  very  best  route  for  this  national  work, 
was  earnestly  seconded  by  Mr.  Williams,  as  may  be  seen 


152  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

in  his  reports.  The  surveys  of  the  first  Rocky  Mountain 
range  were  continued  on  an  extended  scale  during  the 
year  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-six,  under  the  direction 
of  General  G.  M.  Dodge,  Chief  Engineer.  In  the  fall  of 
that  year,  Mr.  Williams,  at  the  request  of  his  colleagues, 
accompanied  the  Chief  and  Consulting  Engineers  in  a  per- 
sonal inspection  of  the  several  lines  run.  His  report  to 
the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  of  November  twenty-third, 
eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-six,*  presents  a  brief  descrip- 
tion of  ten  distinct  routes  or  passes,  all  examined  with 
more  or  less  care,  crossing  this  range  at  various  points 
between  the  canon  of  the  South  Platte,  near  Pike's  Peak, 
and  the  Laramie  canon,  embracing  an  extent,  north  and 
south,  of  nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  Most  of 
these  mountain  passes,  so  far  from  presenting  a  feasible 
route  for  a  railroad,  were  marked  chiefly  for  the  wild 
grandeur  of  their  scenery.  One  of  these,  the  Laramie 
canon,  is  thus  described  in  the  report  alluded  to  : 

"  In  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-five  Mr.  Case  explored, 
without  instruments,  the  upper  portion  of  this  canon.  But 
until  Mr.  Evans,  in  his  second  attempt,  in  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  sixty-six,  succeeded  in  running  a  line  entirely 
through  the  canon,  it  is  not  probable  that  any  human 
being,  savage  or  civilized,  ever  passed  through  the  whole 
length  of  this  deep  and  rugged  gorge.  Its  direct  length  is 
fourteen  miles  ;  its  length  by  the  survey,  twenty-five  miles  ; 
its  course  in  many  places  very  tortuous,  and  its  vertical 
walls  of  rock  from  five  hundred  to  one  thousand  five  hun- 

*  Executive  Document  No.  2,  U.  S.  Senate  Special  Session,  1867. 


JESSE  L.  WILLIAMS.  153 

dred  feet  in  height.  The  fall  of  the  stream  in  places  is 
from  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  to  two  hundred  feet  per 
mile,  and  its  current,  of  course,  extremely  rapid.  It  is 
wholly  impracticable  for  railroad  purposes." 

In  striking  contrast  with  this  grand  mountain  scenery, 
characteristic  of  the  snowy  range,  whose  bold  and  rugged 
features  warrant  the  high  sounding  name  of  the  "  Rocky 
Mountains,"  Mr.  Williams,  in  the  same  report  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Interior,  describes  the  route  finally 
adopted,  ascending  the  Black  Hill  range  on  a  smooth 
divide  at  ninety  feet  per  mile,  and  crossing  the  summit 
where  the  mountain  presents  a  broad  and  gentle  rounded 
surface,  eight  thousand  two  hundred  and  forty  feet  above 
the  sea.  His  description  of  the  route  adopted  is  intro- 
duced by  the  following  paragraph  : 

u  Returning  eastward  from  Fort  John  Buford,*  on  the 
Laramie  river,  to  which  point  our  party  had  extended 
their  reconnoissance,  in  part  to  obtain  a  military  escort, 
which  General  Dodge  deemed  a  prudent  precaution 
against  Indian  depredations  on  the  Lodge  Pole,  we  crossed 
the  Black  Hills  by  the  Lone  Tree  and  Crow  Creek  Divide 
route,  which  we  followed  to  a  point  near  the  travelled 
road  from  Denver  to  Fort  Laramie  at  the  eastern  base  of 
the  range." 

During  the  same  reconnoissance,  Mr.  Williams  visited 
the  route  surveyed  for  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad,  between 
Denver  City  and  Berthound  Pass  in  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
from  the  summit  of  which  the  f  olio  wing  letter  was  written 
by  him  in  September  of  that  year  : 

*  About  this  time  name  changed  to  Fort  Sanders. 


154  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

"  Having  reached  the  summit  of  this  grand  mountain 
range,  in  company  with  Colonel  Seymour,  the  Consulting 
Engineer  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad,  and  Mr.  Brown,* 
Assistant  Engineer,  my  first  impulse  is  to  write  to  my 
friends  at  home. 

' '  One  of  the  experimental  surveys  for  the  Union  Pacific 
Railroad  follows  Clear  Creek  to  this  pass.  That  valley 
was,  therefore,  our  route  from  Denver,  fifty  miles  east, 
bringing  us  through  a  rich  gold  mining  district.  Eight 
miles  back  we  took  saddle  horses,  rising  by  a  mule  trail 
sixteen  hundred  feet  in  the  last  one  and  a  half  miles.  The 
point  on  which  I  write  is  some  six  hundred  feet  above  the 
pass,  about  six  thousand  seven  hundred  feet  above  Den- 
ver, and  about  twelve  thousand  feet  above  the  sea.  It 
appears  to  be  some  two  or  three  hundred  feet  above  the 
line  of  arborescence,  or  'tree  line,7  above  which  no  tim- 
ber or  vegetation  grows.  Patches  of  last  winter's  snow 
are  lying  around  us  on  northern  slopes,  and  some  of  them 
two  hundred  feet  below.  The  proposed  railroad  tunnel 
pierces  the  mountain  far  beneath  us.  From  the  summit 
the  waters  flow  to  the  Pacific  through  the  Colorado  of  the 
West,  and  to  the  Atlantic  through  the  Platte. 

11  Peaks  five  hundred  feet,  and  one  a  thousand  feet  higher 
than  this  are  near  us,  while  Long's  Peak,  supposed  to  be 
nearly  fifteen  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  is  in  full  view 


*  This  promising  young  engineer,  in  prosecuting  the  preliminary  surveys  of  the 
Union  Pacific  Railroad  further  west,  during  the  following  year,  was  killed  at  the 
head  of  his  corps  by  a  band  of  hostile  Indians.  Another  engineer,  Mr.  Hills,  en- 
gaged in  the  locating  service,  east  of  the  Black  Hill  range,  was  also  killed  by  the 
Indians,  about  the  same  time,  at  the  head  of  his  party. 


JESSE  L    WILLIAMS.  155 

forty  miles  to  the  north-east.  During  the  next  two  weeks 
Colonel  Seymour  and  myself  expect,  in  company  with 
General  Dodge,  the  Chief  Engineer,  to  look  over  the 
routes  surveyed  across  the  Black  Hill  range,  one  hundred 
miles  to  the  north  of  this  place. 

"  The  Union  Pacific  Railroad  is  under  good  progress. 
In  November  next  the  locomotive  is  expected  to  cross  the 
bridge  over  the  North  Platte,  two  hundred  and  eighty-five 
miles  from  Omaha.  The  opening  of  this  work  across  the 
plains  will  soon  make  the  people  of  the  States  more 
familiar  with  this  Rocky  Mountain  range  and  its  grand 
scenery  ;  and,  what  is  more  important,  will  afford  ready 
access  to  a  new  field  of  enterprise  in  the  work  of  develop- 
ing its  vast  mineral  wealth." 

The  following  letter  was  written  by  Mr.  "Williams  on 
the  day  of  his  arrival  at  Fort  John  Buford,  Dakotah 
Territory,  September  twenty-seventh,  eighteen  hundred 
and  sixty-six  : 

"  My  last  was  from  Berthound  Pass,  September  eight- 
eenth. The  day  was  delightful.  The  next  day  we 
encountered  a  snow  storm.  Stopping  half  way  down  the 
eastern  slope  of  the  mountain,  we  found  the  snow  on  the 
morning  of  the  nineteenth  eight  inches  deep,  icicles  on  the 
eaves  two  feet  long,  and  the  thermometer  only  sixteen 
degrees  above  zero.  West  of  the  mountain  range,  the 
snow  fell  to  the  depth  of  two  feet,  compelling  Mr.  Brown's 
engineer  party  to  abandon  the  survey  for  the  time  being, 
and  cross  the  range  for  subsistence  for  the  mules.  At 
Denver  there  was  but  a  sprinkling  of  snow.  Such  are  the 
varied  meteorological  effects  caused  by  difference  of  eleva- 


156  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

tion,  and  the  influence  of  the  mountain  range,  in  arresting 
and  precipitating  the  moisture. 

"Passing  north  to  the  Black  Hills,  and  beginning  the 
ascent  of  this  range  at  the  Cache-la-Poudre,  the  largest 
tributary  of  the  South  Platte,  which  takes  its  rise  in  the 
snowy  heights  of  Long's  Peak,  we  followed  on  horseback 
to  this  place,  another  of  the  experimental  lines  run  for 
the  Union  Pacific  Railroad,  crossing  at  Antelope  Pass. 
Our  party  in  this  most  interesting  reconnoissance  consisted 
of  G-eneral  Dodge,  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Union  Pacific 
Railroad,  Colonel  Silas  Seymour,  Consulting  Engineer, 
and  Mr.  Evans,  the  Engineer  who  made  the  surveys. 
Travelling  in  a  north-west  direction,  we  had  the  snow- 
capped peaks  of  the  grand  snowy  range  always  in  view 
twenty  to  thirty  miles  to  the  left.  The  highest  altitude 
reached  on  this  survey  is  eight  thousand  and  fifty  feet 
above  the  sea.  The  transition  from  the  sedimentary  rocks 
forming  the  slope  near  the  base,  to  the  granite  which 
everywhere  composes  the  central  and  higher  parts  of  these 
mountain  ranges,  is  plainly  marked.  In  the  secondary 
formation,  and  lying  geologically  next  above  the  granite, 
is  observed,  near  the  base  of  the  mountain  on  both  slopes, 
what  our  geologist  decides  to  be  the  veritable  "  old  red 
sandstone  "  of  Hugh  Miller,  which  the  genius  of  that 
distinguished  devotee  of  geological  research  invested  with 
so  much  interest  in  the  scientific  circles  of  Europe. 

"The  valley  of  the  Laramie  river,  in  which  we  have 
travelled  for  twenty  miles,  on  the  western  side  of  the 
mountain,  is  a  vast  plain,  without  a  shrub.  It  is  twenty- 
five  to  thirty  miles  wide.  The  groves  of  pine  on  the 


JESSE  L.  WILLIAMS.  157 

Medicine  Bow  Mountains,  forming  its  western  boundary, 
and  on  the  Black  Hills  to  the  east,  is  a  relief  to  the  view. 

X******** 

"  From  this  point  we  expect  to  return  over  another 
experimental  survey,  crossing  the  Black  Hills  further  north 
at  Evans'  Pass,  and  thence  to  Crow  Creek  and  Lodge  Pole 
Creek,  branches  of  the  South  Platte." 

In  July,  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-seven,  Mr.  Wil- 
liams made  a  tour  of  inspection  over  the  road  to  the  end 
of  the  track,  then  just  leaving  the  valley  of  the  Platte  and 
entering  that  of  the  Lodge  Pole,  three  hundred  and  eighty- 
five  miles  west  of  Omaha.  The  last  half  of  that  season 
was  occupied  professionally  in  surveys  and  estimates  pre- 
paratory to  bridging  the  Missouri  river,  he  being  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Bridge  Committee.  A  full  engineering  report 
and  estimate  on  three  separate  routes  across  this  valley 
was  prepared  by  him,  and  submitted  to  the  Union  Pacific 
Board,  and  by  them  put  in  print. 

On  the  thirteenth  of  June,  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty- 
eight,  Mr.  Williams  was  instructed  by  the  Secretary  of  the 
Interior  "  to  examine  and  report  specifically  as  to  the  con- 
dition of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad,  where  it  has  been, 
constructed  or  surveyed." 

From  his  report  to  the  Hon.  Secretary,  August  fifteenth 
eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-eight,*  it  will  be  seen  that 
this  important  duty  was  performed  ;  that  the  President 
of  the  Railroad  Company  accompanied  him  in  a  special 
train  to  the  end  of  the  track,  then  near  Rattlesnake  Pass, 

*  Executive  Document,  House,  No.  15,  40th  Congress,  3d  session. 


158  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

six  hundred  and  sixty  miles  out  from  the  Missouri  river, 
stopping  to  examine  every  station  and  all  important 
structures.  At  the  end  of  the  track,  a  company  of  United 
States  cavalry,  for  protection  against  Indian  hostilities, 
were  in  readiness,  and  the  whole  party,  under  command 
of  General  Dodge,  Chief  Engineer,  passed  thence  on  horse- 
back over  the  entire  line  of  surveys  to  Salt  Lake,  about 
four  hundred  miles. 

The  topographical  formation  of  the  region  traversed  by 
the  first  one  thousand  miles  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad 
west  of  the  Missouri  river,  embracing  both  the  plains  and 
the  mountain  section,  was  described  in  his  report  to  the 
.Secretary  of  the  Interior,  last  referred  to,  as  follows : 

"The  level  plain  of  the  Platte  carries  the  road  with 
moderate  grades  and  excellent  alignment,  to  the  eastern 
base  of  the  mountains,  five  hundred  and  twenty-six  miles. 
Hence  to  the  basin  of  Salt  Lake,  at  the  mouth  of  Weber 
canon,  about  five  hundred  miles,  the  mountainous  district 
is  encountered.  The  principal  mountain  ranges  running 
transversely  with  the  road  are,  first,  the  Black  Hill  range  ; 
second,  the  Rattlesnake  range ;  third,  the  Continental 
divide,  or  watershed ;  fourth,  the  fetter  Creek  summit ; 
fifth,  the  eastern  rim  of  Salt  Lake  basin ;  and  sixth,  the 
Wahsatch  range,  separated  from  the  Rim  only  by  Bear 
valley.  The  entire  drainage  of  this  mountainous  section 
between  the  Black  Hills  and  the  Rim  of  the  Utah  basin, 
except  as  it  sinks  in  the  intermediate  dry  basins,  passes  by 
lateral  valleys  into  the  two  main  rivers — the  north  fork  of 
the  Platte,  flowing  first  northwardly,  and  thence  east  to  the 
Missouri,  and  Green  river,  running  southward  to  the  Colo- 


JESSE  L.  WILLIAMS.  159 

rado  of  the  Pacific.  Minor  valleys,  are,  oT  course,  found 
leading  the  drainage  from  the  ranges  into  these  main 
rivers  in  an  easterly  and  westerly  direction,  and  the  engi- 
neers have  been  fortunate  in  finding,  through  these  sev- 
eral lateral  valleys,  as  the  Bitter  Creek  and  Black's  Fork, 
for  instance,  a  very  favorable  route  for  the  railroad.  The 
granite  formation,  which,  owing  to  its  imperishable  char- 
acter, generally  prevents  a  more  precipitous  and  cliff-like 
surface,  is  of  limited  extent  on  this  route,  occurring  on  the 
entire  line  only  at  the  Black  Hill  range  for  the  distance  of 
about  twenty  miles,  and  at  the  western  base  of  the 
Wahsatch  for  three  miles.  The  whole  line  between  is  in 
the  sedimentary  formation,  and  the  sandstone,  everywhere 
predominant,  is  generally  of  the  most  perishable  charac- 
ter. The  natural  action  of  the  elements,  through  the  ages 
of  the  past,  on  the  more  elevated  ranges  has  disintegrated 
this  sandstone,  filling  with  the  debris  the  valleys  and 
plains  between,  thus  gradually  lessening,  with  the  lapse 
of  time,  the  difference  of  elevation,  and  moderating  the 
slopes."  *  *  *  V*  *  *  *  * 

The  question  of  maximum  grade  on  the  mountain 
ranges  was,  of  course,  an  important  one.  His  official 
action  on  this  question,  referring  to  the  Wahsatch  range, 
is  stated  in  the  following  paragraph  to  the  Secretary  of 
the  Interior,  of  fifteenth  of  August,  eighteen  hundred  and 
sixty-eight : 

"It  will  be  observed  that  the  steepest  grade  is  ninety 
feet  per  mile,  and  this  was  found  necessary  only  on  the 
two  main  ranges,  the  Black  Hills  and  the  Wahsatch. 
The  shortest  curvature  is  six  degrees  on  each  hundred 


160  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

feet,  or  nine  hundred  and  fifty-five  feet  radius.  After  the 
location  on  the  Wahsatch  range  had  been  made  by  the 
locating  engineers,  with  the  approval  of  the  Chief  Engi- 
neer of  the  Company,  further  examinations  were  ordered 
by  the  Yice-President,  with  a  view  to  cheapening  and 
hastening  the  work  on  the  western  slope,  using  grades  of 
one  hundred  and  ten  and  one  hundred  and  sixteen  feet 
per  mile.  I  earnestly  remonstrated  against  a  ruling  grade 
exceeding  ninety  feet,  for  reasons  stated  in  the  paper  an- 
nexed. I  trust  the  change  may  not  be  made. 

"  On  the  location  adopted,  a  train  of  cars  once  on  the 
summit  of  the  Wahsatch  range  will  meet  no  ascending 
grade  higher  than  sixty  feet  per  mile  thence  to  the  western 
base  of  the  Black  Hills.  And  so  on  the  trip  westward,  an 
ascending  grade  of  sixty  feet  per  mile  is  the  highest  to  be 
overcome  from  the  summit  of  the  Black  Hills  to  Salt  Lake 
Valley,  and  probably  to  the  Humboldt. 

"  The  total  ascent  to  be  overcome  by  a  train  going  west 
between  the  Missouri  high  bridge  and  Salt  Lake  Valley, 
including  the  elevation  lost  by  intermediate  undulations, 
is  twelve  thousand  one  hundred  feet,  and  by  a  train  going 
east,  eight  thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy  feet." 

The  reasons  for  adhering  to  a  maximum  grade  of  ninety 
feet  per  mile  are  more  fully  stated  in  the  following  tele- 
gram, copied  from  the  report  to  the  Secretary  of  the  In- 
terior last  referred  to  : 

TELEGRAM  TO  OLIVER  AMES,  PRES'T.  U.  P.  R.  R. 

"  OMAHA,  Aug.  6,  1868. 

"  The  undersigned,  one  of  the  Government  Directors 
and  member  of  Locating  Committee,  respectfully  but 


JESSE  L.  WILLIAMS.  161 

earnestly  remonstrates  against  any  change  of  final  location 
on  Wahsatch  range,  as  made  by  J.  Blickensderfer,  Loca- 
ting Engineer,  and  approved  by  the  Chief  Engineer,  which 
shall  increase  grades  over  ninety  feet  per  mile.  Having 
examined  the  ground,  I  know  this  maximum  to  be  feasible 
at  reasonable  cost,  and  that  it  need  not  delay  your  rapid 
track  laying.  Ninety  feet  maximum  grade  being  adapted 
to  the  general  slope  of  the  Wahsatch,  and  being  the  ruling 
grade  from  Missouri  river  to  the  Sierra  Nevada,  to  exceed 
it  here  would  materially  impair  the  efficiency  of  this  Con- 
tinental road,  injure  both  its  stockholders  and  the  com- 

& 

mercial  interests,  and  increase  the  hazard  of  travel  over 
this  abrupt  and  icy  range,  with  only  a  paltry  advantage 
to  the  contracting  company.  If  there  exists  a  purpose  of 
increasing  this  grade,  I  trust  it  will  be  abandoned. 

11  J.  L.  WILLIAMS." 

The  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  in  his  annual  report  to 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  of  thirtieth  November, 
eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-eight,  referring  to  this  specific 
examination  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad,  says :  "  Mr. 
Williams  is  an  experienced  Civil  Engineer,  and  performed 
the  duty  committed  to  him  in  a  very  satisfactory  manner. 
His  report  presented  such  statements  that  I  deem  it  my 
imperative  duty,  on  presenting  to  you  the  report  of  the 
Commissioners  on  the  twenty-fifth  section,  to  invite  your 
attention  to  the  leading  facts  he  communicated,  and  to 
request  that  the  Attorney-General  be  directed  to  advise 
you  whether  said  report,  as  to  the  facts  covered  by  it,  was 
conclusive  upon  the  Executive." 


162  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

The  result  of  the  Attorney-General's  opinion  upon  the 
power  of  the  Government  was  the  appointment,  by  the 
President,  of  a  second  and  larger  commission,  consisting 
of  three  experienced  engineers,  to  wit  :  Brevet  Major- 
General  "Warren,  U.  S.  Army  ;  J.  Blickensderfer,  Jr.,  of 
Ohio,  and  J.  L.  Williams,  of  Indiana,  to  examine  and 
report  on  the  entire  road.  Mr.  "Williams,  appreciating 
the  high  honor  of  this  appointment,  especially  as  it  gave 
assurance  of  approval  by  the  Government  of  his  course  in 
the  important  issues  raised  before  the  country  by  his  sev- 
eral reports,  was  nevertheless  constrained  by  other  duties 
to  decline.  The  report  of  the  two  engineers  above  named 
was  confirmatory  of  his  report. 

In  October,  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-eight,  the 
Government  Directors  were  directed  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Interior  to  collect  from  papers  in  the  Union  Pacific 
Railroad  Office  in  New  York  and  report  certain  informa- 
tion touching,  amongst  other  things,  the  cost  of  the  road. 
The  books  of  the  office,  however,  did  not  furnish  the 
actual  cost  called  for  by  the  Secretary,  but  only  the  con- 
tract price  per  mile,  known  to  be  large,  and  the  issue  of 
securities.  The  actual  outlay  in  construction  by  the  con- 
tracting company,  operating  under  a  charter  (the  credit 
mobilier),  was  to  be  found  only  amongst  their  private 
papers,  to  which  the  Government  Directors  could  not 
claim  access.  Under  this  state  of  facts  Mr.  Williams 
deemed  it  his  duty,  as  Government  Director,  to  prepare 
an  estimate  of  the  actual  outlay  by  the  contracting  com- 
pany in  building  the  road.  This  estimate  was  embodied 
in  his  report  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  dated  Fort 


JESSE  L.  WILLIAMS.  163 

"Wayne,  Indiana,  November  fourteenth,  eighteen  hundred 
and  sixty-eight.*  It  seems  to  have  been  made  with  much 
care  from  personal  knowledge  and  inspection  of  the  road, 
and  which  gave  an  approximate  estimate  of  expenditure 
necessarily  made  by  the  contracting  company  in  building 
eleven  hundred  and  ten  miles  of  road,  from  Omaha  to 
Monument  Point,  in  Salt  Lake  Yalley.  This  report  was 
well  timed,  and  wisely  conceived  for  the  public  interest. 
It  met  so  fully  the  then  existing  desire  for  information,  as 
to  secure  a  very  wide  circulation  through  the  leading 
newspapers  of  the  country.  It  attracted  much  attention 
in  Congress.  Of  it,  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  in  his 
annual  report  before  referred  to,  gave  the  following 
synopsis  : 

' '  As  the  actual  cost  of  this  road  is  a  matter  of  public 
interest,  I  deem  it  proper  to  present,  in  a  condensed  form, 
the  estimates  submitted  on  the  fourteenth  instant,  by 
Jesse  L.  Williams,  Civil  Engineer.  He  states  that  the 
cost  of  the  road  as  shown  on  the  books  of  the  Railroad 
Company  is,  of  course,  equivalent  to  the  contract  price  per 
mile.  The  actual  cost  to  the  contractors  forming  an  asso- 
ciation which  embraces  most  of  the  larger  stockholders  of 
the  Company,  is  shown  only  by  their  private  books,  to 
which  the  Government  Directors  have  no  access.  The 
calculations  were  therefore  made  from  the  most  accurate 
data,  and  the  estimated  cost  of  the  first  seven  hundred 
and  ten  miles  of  the  road  was  taken  as  the  basis  for  com- 
puting that  of  the  whole  line.  Should  the  road,  as  is 

*  House  Executive  Document,  No.  15,  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-eight. 


164  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

expected  by  the  Company,  form  a  junction  with  that  of 
the  California  Company,  near  the  northern  extreme  of 
Great  Salt  Lake,  a-  little  west  of  Monument  Point,  its 
length  would  be  about  eleven  hundred  miles.  The  cost 
of  locating,  constructing,  and  equipping  it  and  the  tele- 
graph line,  is  thirty-eight  million  eight  hundred  and 
twenty-four  thousand  eight  hundred  and  twenty-one  dol- 
lars, an  average  per  mile  of  thirty-four  thousand  nine 
hundred  and  seventy-seven  dollars  and  thirty-two  cents. 

' '  The  Government  subsidy  in  bonds  for  that  distance  at 
par,  amounts  to  twenty-nine  millions  five  hundred  and 
four  thousand  dollars,  an  average  per  mile  of  twenty-six 
thousand  five  hundred  and  eighty  dollars.  The  Company's 
first  mortgage  bonds  are  estimated  at  ninety-two  per 
cent.,  and  would  yield  twenty-seven  million  one  hundred 
and  forty-three  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty  dollars. 

'  The  fund  realized  by  the  Company  from  these  two 
sources  amounts  to  fifty-six  million  six  hundred  and  forty- 
seven  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty  dollars,  being  an 
average  per  mile  of  fifty-one  thousand  and  thirty-four 
dollars,  exceeding  by  sixteen  thousand  and  fifty-six  dollars 
and  sixty-eight  cents  the  actual  cost  of  constructing  and 
fully  equipping  the  road,  and  yielding  a  profit  of  more 
than  seventeen  million  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars.'7 

The  tenor  of  Mr.  Williams'  reports  shows  a  consistent 
and  earnest  opposition  throughout  to  the  plan  of  letting 
the  road  in  very  large  contracts,  as  practised  on  this  road, 
at  a  price  per  mile,  so  large  as  to  cover  the  means  pro- 
vided by  law  in  Government  and  first  mortgage  bonds, 


JESSE  L    WILLIAMS.  165 

rather  than  at  a  rate  proportioned  to  the  amount  of  work 
to  be  performed.  It  is  well  known  that  he  ever  urged 
on  all  occasions  a  careful  husbanding  of  the  large  subsidies 
so  liberally  furnished  by  the  Government,  that  there  might 
be  means,  without  resort  to  excessive  rates  of  traffic,  to 
maintain  and  strengthen  the  work  during  the  first  few 
years  after  opening.  A  "  reserve  fund,"  in  Government 
bonds,  to  be  retained  in  the  hands  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  and  used  in  bringing  up  the  road  to  the  proper 
standard,  seems,  from  official  reports,  to  have  been  his 
favorite  idea.  His  views  on  this  point  are  explained  in 
the  following  letter  to  the  President  of  the  Company,  at 
the  close  of  their  examination  of  the  six  hundred  and  sixty 
miles  of  track  then  laid.  It  is  taken  from  the  appendix  to 
his  report  of  August  fifteenth,  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty- 
eight,  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  : 


OF  TRACK,  July  1,  1868. 

"  DEAR  SIR.  —  I  beg  to  submit  for  your  examination 
the  enclosed  paper,  explanatory  of  the  suggestions  of 
a  'reserve  fund.7  If  not  the  best,  it  may  lead  to  a  more 
feasible  scheme. 

"  That  there  is  a  practical  difficulty  in  the  case  all  must 
admit.  Your  very  rapid  progress  with  the  track  without 
waiting,  in  all  cases,  to  build  permanent  work,  is  for  the 
interest  of  both  Company  and  the  country,  and  should  be 
encouraged.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  those  representing 
the  Government  may  well  hesitate  to  sanction  the  deliv- 
ery of  the  entire  subsidy,  liberal  as  it  certainly  is,  for  the 
whole  extent  of  ihe  road,  while  the  work  is  in  so  incom- 


166  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

plete  a  state,  as  it  must  necessarily  be  when  each  succes- 
sive twenty  mile  section  is  presented  for  inspection. 

"It  is  unnecessary  to  remind  you  of  the  large  expendi- 
ture required  on  any  new  road  just  opened,  in  the  way  of 
improvement,  enlargement,  and  equipment,  before  its 
facilities  are  adequate  to  earn,  at  reasonable  rates,  the 
large  sum  per  mile  which  we  all  expect  from  the  Union 
Pacific  Railroad.  I  respectfully  ask  of  you  a  careful  con- 
sideration of  this  subject,  that  the  true  interest  both  of  the 
Company  and  the  G-overnment,  which,  it  seems  to  me,  do 
not  conflict,  may  be  secured. 

"  I  should  add  that  if  the  control  of  the  work  would 
certainly  remain  in  the  hands  of  the  very  respectable  and 
wealthy  gentlemen  now  holding  the  stock,  no  such  pre- 
caution might  be  necessary,  for  they  would  put  in  fresh 
money  as  needed  to  make  an  efficient  road.  But  in  the 
ever-changing  control  of  such  works,  this  is  not  probable. 

"  Very  truly, 

"J.  L.  WILLIAMS, 

"  Government  Director. 

11  OLIVER  AMES,  Esq., 

"  President  Union  Pacific  Railroad." 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Union  Pacific  Board  in  Septem- 
ber, eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-eight,  a  copy  of  his  re- 
port of  fifteenth  of  August  previous  was  read  to  the  Board. 
At  that  time  a  resolution  was  offered  by  Mr.  Williams  for 
adoption  by  the  Board,  assenting  to  the  proposed  "  reserve 
fund  "  in  Government  bonds,  as  suggested  by  that  report, 
to  be  retained  in  the  hands  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 


JESSE  L.  WILLIAMS.  167 

ury.  Though  not  adopted  by  the  Board  in  any  efficient 
form,  the  principle  was  afterwards  adopted  by  the  Gov- 
ernment, and  formed  the  basis  of  its  action  under  the 
opinion  of  the  Attorney-General. 

On  the  nineteenth  of  January,  eighteen  hundred  and 
sixty-nine,  Mr.  Williams  was  appointed  Receiver  of  the 
Grand  Rapids  and  Indiana  Railroad  by  the  United  States 
Court  for  the  Western  District  of  Michigan. 

This  work,  three  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  long,  is 
designed  to  connect  the  city  of  Fort  Wayne  and  the  region 
further  south  with  Little  Traverse  Bay  and  the  Straits  of 
Mackinaw.  In  the  distribution  of  the  lands  granted  by 
Congress  to  the  State  of  Michigan,  this  work  was  endowed 
with  a  valuable  land  grant. 

The  work  was  commenced  twelve  or  fourteen  years 
ago.  A  failure  to  negotiate  its  bonds,  the  natural  result, 
perhaps,  of  a  premature  beginning  in  a  district  of  country 
so  little  settled  at  that  time,  had  caused  very  serious  finan- 
cial embarrassments,  and  a  suspension  of  the  construction, 
with  only  twenty  miles  in  running  order.  Other  and 
rival  interests  were  watching  the  baitings  of  this  work  in 
expectation  of  obtaining  a  transfer  of  the  land  grant  for 
their  benefit. 

Under  the  law  of  Michigan,  a  failure  to  complete  twenty 
additional  miles  by  July  first,  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty- 
nine,  extending  northward  into  the  Pineries,  forfeited 
absolutely  the  land  grant,  thought  to  be  worth  seven  mil- 
lions of  dollars.  The  stake  was  large,  the  work  to  be 
done  remote  from  settlements,  and  the  time  only  some 
fifty  days  after  the  yielding  of  the  frost 


168  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

The  Court,  for  the  protection  and  benefit  of  all  the 
interests  involved,  had  ordered  the  Receiver  to  borrow 
money  by  pledge  of  the  land,  and  build  the  road  as 
required  by  law.  Seldom  has  so  large  a  responsibility 
been  laid  on  any  one.  For  no  provision  was  made  for  a 
second  effort  to  recover  the  land  grant,  if  lost  by  a  single 
day  in  the  time  of  completion.  Much  interest  was  felt 
along  the  line  and  with  capitalists  who  had  already  in- 
vested largely  on  the  security  of  the  land  grant  and  the 
road.  The  following  telegram,  sent  eight  days  before  the 
time  fixed  by  the  statute,  announced  the  result  of  the 

effort : 

"GRAND  BAPIDS,  June  22,  1869. 
"  To  His  EXCELLENCY, 

"THE  GOVERNOR  OF  MICHIGAN. 

"  The  last  rail  of  the  twenty  miles  was  laid  last  evening. 

"  J.  L.  WILLIAMS.^ 

By  further  orders  of  the  Court,  Mr.  Williams,  as  Re- 
ceiver, was  authorized  and  directed  to  build  and  put  in 
good  running  order  the  entire  remainder  of  the  line 
between  Fort  Wayne  and  the  Muskegon  river,  a  distance 
of  two  hundred  miles. 

In  addition  to  the  duties  and  responsibilities  ordinarily 
belonging  to  a  financial  trust  like  this,  he  had  also  the 
professional  charge  as  Directing  Engineer  of  the  work. 
These  several  duties  were  found  so  exacting  as  to  leave  no 
time  for  the  proper  performance  of  Pacific  Railroad  duties. 
He,  therefore,  in  October,  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty- 
nine,  resigned  his  position  as  Government  Director  of  the 
Union  Pacific  Railroad. 


JESSE  L.  WILLIAMS.  169 

After  being  relieved  from  duty  under  the  Government, 
he  devoted  his  whole  time  and  energies  to  the  completion 
of  the  two  hundred  miles  of  the  Grand  Rapids  and  Indi- 
ana Railroad  north  of  Fort  Wayne,  and  opened  it  for 
traffic  early  in  October,  eighteen  hundred  and  seventy. 
One  hundred  and  sixty  miles  of  track  was  laid,  besides 
closing  up  a  large  part  of  the  grading,  delivery  of  cross 
ties,  etc.,  from  the  middle  of  April  to  the  thirteenth  of 
September,  eighteen  hundred  and  seventy,  a  rate  of  pro- 
gress which  has  perhaps  not  been  equalled  on  any  other 
work  except  on  the  Pacific  roads. 

The  professional  life  of  Mr.  Williams  has  been  in  a 
remarkable  degree  full  of  useful  activity.  It  is  honorably 
and  inseparably  identified  with  many  of  the  great  public 
enterprises  which  have  effected  important  changes  in  the 
condition  of  the  country.  Commencing  at  a  time  when 
the  superior  advantages  for  the  carrying  on  of  inland 
trade  and  commerce  by  means  of  canals  were  attracting 
universal  attention  to  their  construction,  he  will  probably 
close  it,  long  after  this  kind  of  improvement  has  become 
secondary  in  importance  (except  in  peculiar  localities)  to 
another  of  still  higher  perfection — the  railroad.  Indeed 
it  may  be  said  that,  in  the  regions  west  of  the  Alleghany 
Mountains,  he  has  witnessed  the  origin,  the  growth,  the 
maturity,  and  the  decline  of  the  canal  system. 

Turning  his  attention  early  to  railroad  construction,  he 
has  devoted  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  professional  labors, 
mainly  in  aiding  forward  to  successful  completion  some  of 
the  most  prominent  railroads  in  the  country. 


COLONEL  WILLIAM  McREE, 

CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEER, 


COLONEL  WILLIAM  McREE  was  a  military  engineer  at 
the  commencement  of  the  war  of  eighteen  hundred  and 
twelve  with  Great  Britain,  and  probably  at  that  period 
the  best  informed  mind  of  the  military  men  of  our  coun- 
try. He  was  prominent  among  those  who  distinguished 
themselves  on  the  Niagara  frontier  in  eighteen  hundred 
and  fourteen,  where  he  won  two  brevets,  and  the  high 
regard  of  the  Commander-in-Chief. 

Colonel  McRee  was  the  son  of  Major  Griffith  McRee,  of 
the  North  Carolina  line  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and 
was  born  in  Wilmington,  North  Carolina,  in  the  year 
seventeen  hundred  and  eighty-eight.  His  mother  was  the 
daughter  of  Dr.  John  Fergus,  a  distinguished  physician  of 
Wilmington,  N.  C.,  who  had  been  educated  in  Edinburgh, 
and  was  of  Scottish  descent. 

At  the  age  of  sixteen,  William  became  acquainted  with 
Colonel  Jonathan  Williams,  while  that  officer  was  on  a 
visit  of  inspection  of  the  defences  of  Cape  Fear  harbor,  and 
the  Colonel,  discovering  a  fine  mind  in  the  youth,  pro- 
cured for  him  a  cadet's  warrant  at  the  Military  Academy 
of  West  Point.  The  youth  soon  evinced  a  fondness  for 


170 


COLONEL  WILLIAM  McREE.  171 

mathematics,  at  the  Academy  ;  was  very  studious  in  mili- 
tary history,  and  became  a  Lieutenant  of  Engineers  in 
eighteen  hundred  and  five.  Until  the  "  War  of  Twelve  " 
he  was  employed  in  the  repairs  of  the  forts  on  the  Atlantic 
coast.  In  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  sixteen  he  was 
associated  with  Major  Thayer  in  a  mission  to  France 
and  Belgium  to  visit  the  fortifications  of  those  countries, 
and  to  collect  a  military  library  for  the  West  Point 
Academy,  duties  which  these  officers  executed  with  ex- 
emplary success  and  usefulness.  In  eighteen  hundred 
and  eighteen  Colonel  McRee  took  similar  views  as  his 
Chief,  General  Joseph  G-.  Swift,  as  to  the  impolitic  mode 
of  introducing  a  foreign  engineer  into  the  United  States 
military  service,  and  after  completing  the  first  general  sur- 
vey made  by  the  Board  of  Military  Engineers,  he  resigned 
his  commission  in  the  United  States  Corps  of  Engineers. 
He  was  shortly  after  appointed  Surveyor-General  of  Il- 
linois, Missouri,  and  Arkansas,  and  while  commending  to 
the  Government  very  important  improvements  in  that 
service,  he  fell  a  prey  to  the  cholera  at  St.  Louis  in  eight- 
een hundred  and  thirty-two,  in  the  very  prime  of  his  life 
and  usefulness. 

Colonel  McRee  was  distinguished  for  quick  perception, 
sound  judgment,  modesty  of  deportment,  and  very  studi- 
ous habits. 

He  instituted  experiments  in  regard  to  suitable  food  and 
its  quantity,  to  enable  a  soldier  to  sustain  health  with  the 
longest  daily  march,  and  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
about  half  the  ordinary  ration,  suitably  prepared,  with 
regular  daily  exercise,  would  sustain  the  soldier  in  con- 


172  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

tinued  marches  of  twenty  miles  per  day  for  one  month, 
and  that  ground-parched  Indian  corn,  with  one-fourth  of 
its  weight  in  sugar,  commingled  and  packed,  would  enable 
a  soldier  to  carry  ten  days'  provisions  on  a  forced  march. 
This  last  fact  was  proved  by  General  Jackson  in  a  march 
during  the  Creek  and  Seminole  war  of  eighteen  hundred 
and  eighteen. 

Colonel  McRee  studied  the  best  authorities  with  refer- 
ence to  the  physical  powers  of  soldiers. 

His  habits  of  life  were  abstemious,  and  his  character  and 
conduct  pure.  He  was  never  married.  His  political 
sentiments  were  of  the  most  simple  republicanism.  He 
had  few  personal  associates,  and  fewer  personal  intima- 
cies, though  his  acquaintance  was  sought  by  many  for  his 
high  attainments  and  unexceptionable  private  life. 


SAMUEL  H.  KNEASS, 


CIVIL  ENGINEER. 


SAMUEL  HONEYMAN  KNEASS  was  of  the  list  of  Civil  En- 
gineers who  started  in  their  profession  with  the  first  pro- 
ject of  internal  improvements  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania. 
He  was  born  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  on  the  fifth  day  of 
November,  eighteen  hundred  and  six,  and  was  the  second 
son  of  William  Kneass,  who  was  for  many  years  engraver 
for  the  United  States  Mint.  In  the  year  eighteen  hundred 
and  twenty-one,  he  entered  the  office  of  William  Strick- 
land, the  then  leading  Architect  and  Civil  Engineer  of  the 
State,  and,  with  him,  assisted  in  the  erection  of  several 
buildings  that  now  ornament  the  city  of  Philadelphia, 
among  them  the  United  States  Bank,  now  occupied  as  the 
Custom  House.  One  of  his  earliest  attempts  at  architec- 
ture was  the  triumphal  arch,  erected  from  his  design,  at 
the  time  of  Lafayette's  visit,  in  eighteen  hundred  and 
twenty-four,  the  original  drawing  of  which  now  hangs  in 
Independence  Hall.  His  inclinations,  however,  were  for 
the  duties  devolving  more  especially  upon  the  Civil  Engi- 
neer ;  he,  therefore,  directed  his  attention  to  that  branch, 
and  was  engaged  at  an  early  date  in  the  field-work,  of  im- 
provements in  charge  of  Mr.  Strickland  ;  among  them  was 


173 


174  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

the  survey  for  the  Chesapeake  and  Delaware  Canal.  In 
eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-five  he  was  appointed  to 
accompany  Mr.  Strickland  to  England,  under  the  auspices 
of  the  "  Society  for  Promoting  Internal  Improvements,7' 
of  Pennsylvania,  for  the  purpose  of  examining  and  report- 
ing upon  the  public  works  of  that  country.  All  the  draw- 
ings which  accompanied  this  report  were  made  by  him, 
and  were  afterwards  copied  in  the  extensive  work  entitled 
"The  Public  Works  of  Great  Britain,"  published  in  eight- 
een hundred  and  thirty-eight  by  John  Weale,  of  London. 
After  his  return  from  England,  he  joined  the  corps  organ- 
ized by  Mr.  Strickland  for  the  construction  of  the  Susque- 
hanna  division  of  the  State  Canal,  and,  as  Principal  Assist- 
ant Engineer,  remained  with  him  until  eighteen  hundred 
and  twenty-eight,  when  he  was  transferred  to  the  Dela- 
ware division,  with  Mr.  Sergeant  as  Chief.  In  eighteen 
hundred  and  twenty-nine  he  left  the  service  of  the  State, 
and  assumed  the  charge,  as  Chief  Engineer,  of  the  Mine 
Hill  and  Schuylkill  Haven  Railroad,  from  which  he  retired 
in  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-one,  to  leave  his  native 
State  and  commence  the  construction  of  one  of  the  first  of 
the  chain  of  Western  railroads — the  Lexington  and  Frank- 
fort— but  left  this  road  in  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty- 
two  to  take  the  position  of  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Phila- 
delphia and  Trenton  Railroad.  Upon  the  completion  of 
this  work,  he  again  left  Pennsylvania,  and,  in  Louisiana, 
started  the  West  Feliciana  Railroad  ;  here  his  health  fail- 
ing, he  returned  to  the  Philadelphia  and  Wilmington 
Railroad  (a  portion  of  the  Philadelphia,  Wilmington  and 
Baltimore  Railroad),  at  the  same  time  having  in  charge 


SAMUEL  H.  KNEASS.  175 

the  construction  of  the  Delaware  and  Schuylkill  Canal. 
This  latter  work  was  never  completed.  The  former  he 
finished,  and  remained  in  the  service  of  the  Company 
until  eighteen  hundred  and  forty.  Again  he  visited  Eng- 
land, and  examined,  with  care,  the  improvements  in  ma- 
chinery and  construction  that  had  been  made  during  the 
intervals  of  his  visits.  Immediately  after  his  return  he 
took  charge  of  the  surveys  for  the  extension  of  the  lower 
districts  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  then  beyond  munici- 
pal limits,  which,  with  other  work  of  construction  for  the 
city,  occupied  him  until  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-three. 
From  this  time  until  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-five — 
during  the  time  when  railroad  undertakings  were,  from 
the  financial  state  of  the  country,  in  a  very  adverse  con- 
dition— he  was  engaged  in  various  sections  of  the  State 
upon  explorations  and  the  examination  of  projects  that 
waited  upon  a  favorable  opportunity  for  development, 
and,  in  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-five,  left  for  South 
America,  as  United  States  Consul  at  Carthagena,  in  New 
Grenada,  and  as  contractor  for  the  construction  of  a  canal 
from  Carthagena  to  the  river  Magdalena.  In  eighteen 
hundred  and  forty-six  he  returned,  and  took  charge  of  the 
Wisconisco  Canal,  on  the  Susquehanna  river,  in  Dauphin 
County,  Pennsylvania.  After  finishing  this,  or  nearly  so, 
he  was  engaged  for  a  short  time  upon  the  Pennsylvania 
Central  Railroad ;  but  in  eighteen  hundred  and  forty- 
eight  he  left  this  service  to  take  a  position  upon  the 
Northern  New  York  Railroad,  between  Ogdensburgh  and 
Rouse's  Point.  In  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-nine  he 
was  elected  City  Surveyor  of  Philadelphia,  which  post  he 


176  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

occupied  until  May,  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-three, 
during  which  time  he  constructed  the  new  bridge  over  the 
Schuylkill  at  Market  street,  and  arranged  the  approaches 
so  that  the  Western  Railroad  could  have  a  direct  connec- 
tion with  the  city  proper.  This  bridge  was  erected  upon 
the  site  of  the  old  "Permanent  Bridge,"  and  was  so  built 
that,  notwithstanding  it  was  upon  one  of  the  most  crowded 
thoroughfares  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  yet  the  travel 
was  not  interrupted  one  day  during  its  construction. 
Having  resigned  the  survey orship  of  Philadelphia  in  eight- 
een hundred  and  fifty- three,  Mr.  Kneass  commenced  the 
surveys  and  location  of  the  Franklin  anid  Warren  Rail- 
road in  Ohio,  in  charge  of  which  he  remained  but  a  short 
time,  as  in  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-four  he  was 
appointed  Chief  Engineer  of  the  North  Western  Railroad  of 
Pennsylvania,  extending  from  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad, 
at  Blair sville,  northwest,  to  the  Cleveland  and  Mahoning 
Railroad.  This  position  he  held  at  the  time  of  his  decease, 
which  took  place  in  Philadelphia  in  February,  eighteen 
hundred  and  fifty-eight.  In  professional  acquirements 
Mr.  Kneass  held  an  enviable  position  among  American 
Engineers,  which,  combined  with  his  social  qualities  as  a 
man  and  friend,  has  endowed  his  memory  with  a  reputa- 
tion at  once  honorable  and  enduring. 


CAPTAIN   JOHN"  CHILDE, 

CIVIL  ENGINEER 


JOHN  CHILDE  was  born  in  West  Boyleston,  Mass.,  Au- 
gust thirtieth,  eighteen  hundred  and  two.  He  was  the 
son  of  Zachariah  Childe,  and  one  of  a  family  of  twelve 
children.  His  father,  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution,  was  an 
earnest  advocate  of  liberty  and  equal  rights,  was  high- 
spirited,  courteous,  and  kind  to  his  friends,  and  hospitable 
to  strangers.  The  poor  and  needy  never  went  unrefreshed 
from  his  door.  He  had  a  strong  affection  for  his  children, 
and  was  especially  proud  of  his  boys.  To  see  them  rise  in 
the  world  and  become  good  and  useful  citizens  was  his 
highest  happiness.  He  was  the  son  of  David  Childe,  one 
of  the  earliest  settlers  in  the  neighborhood,  who  owned  a 
large  tract  of  land,  on  which  he  lived,  and  where  Zachariah 
was  born. 

His  mother  was  the  daughter  of  David  Bigelow,  of 
Worcester,  Mass.,  and  niece  of  Colonel  Timothy  Bigelow, 
of  Revolutionary  memory.  She  was  a  woman  of  superior 
intellectual  gifts,  improved  by  education  and  extensive 
reading.  She  had  a  womanly  heart,  full  of  tenderness  and 
devotion  to  her  children,  and  ambitious  for  their  highest 
good. 


177 


178  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

During  his  boyhood,  John  worked  upon  his  father's 
farm.  His  early  educational  advantages  were  those  of  the 
district  school,  with  the  exception  of  two  years  spent  with 
an  elder  brother  in  Canada,  and  one  year  of  preparation 
at  Georgetown  College,  D.  C.  In  his  youth  he  was 
remarkably  studious.  He  was  full  to  overflowing  of  boyish 
spirit,  fond  of  all  manly  sports,  full  of  affection  and  tender 
consideration  for  those  around  him,  and  self-denying  for 
those  he  loved,  in  a  remarkable  degree. 

July  first,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty- three,  he 
entered  West  Point  Academy.  The  official  report  says  he 
excelled  in  Mathematics,  Natural  Philosophy,  Chemistry, 
Mineralogy,  Engineering,  Drawing  and  Tactics.  He  was 
appointed,  July  first,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-seven, 
Second  Lieutenant  of  the  Third  Artillery.  After  the  usual 
short  leave  of  absence  given  to  all  graduates,  he  was  placed 
on  duty  at  the  Artillery  School  of  Practice,  at  Fortress 
Monroe,  Virginia,  then  commanded  by  Colonel,  afterwards 
Brigadier-General,  A.  Eustis. 

Shortly  after  his  arrival  there,  the  commanding  officer, 
desiring  a  complete  plan  of  the  fortifications  made,  selected 
Lieutenant  Childe  to  prepare  the  drawings,  which  he 
executed  satisfactorily.  He  continued  on  this  duty,  and 
those  connected  with  his  position  as  an  officer  of  Artillery 
at  the  School  of  Practice,  until  selected  for  Ordnance  duty 
in  December,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-eight.  He  was 
then  assigned  to  the  United  States  Arsenal,  at  Washing- 
ton City,  and  remained  on  duty  at  that  station  until 
November,  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty,  when  he  was 
selected  to  make  drawings  of  the  public  buildings  and 


CAPTAIN  JOHN  CHILDE.  179 

machinery  at  the  United  States  Armory  at  Springfield. 
Remaining  there  until  December,  eighteen  hundred  and 
thirty-one,  he  again  returned  to  his  previous  station  at  the 
Washington  Arsenal.  In  addition  to  his  regular  duties, 
he  was,  in  November,  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty- two, 
appointed  to  discharge  those  of  Assistant  Inspector  of 
Ordnance.  In  this  capacity  he  visited,  in  company  with 
Major  Worth,  then  Inspector  of  Ordnance,  all  the  foundries 
established  by  the  Government,  and  assisted  in  the  inspec- 
tion and  proof  of  the  ordnance  and  projectiles,  until  Febru- 
ary, eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-four,  when  he  was  ordered 
to  join  his  regiment,  with  which  he  served,  at  Fort  Wolcott, 
until  December,  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-five,  when 
he  resigned  his  commission  in  the  army,  to  apply  his  tal- 
ents and  acquirements  to  civil  engineering, — a  profession 
then  attracting  to  its  ranks  many  of  the  first  officers  of  the 
army.  During  his  whole  career  in  the  military  service 
Lieutenant  Childe  never  failed  to  acquit  himself  with 
credit,  and  to  give  satisfaction  in  whatever  duty  he  was 
engaged. 

Entering  his  new  field  of  labor,  Lieutenant  Childe  was 
employed  from  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-five  to  thirty- 
six  as  Assistant  Engineer  on  the  York  and  Wrightsville 
Railroad,  and  from  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-six  to 
eighteen  hundred  and  forty-four  he  was  in  the  service  of 
the  Western  Railroad  Company  of  Massachusetts  ;  first  in 
the  surveys  and  location  of  their  road  between  Wilbraham 
and  the  State  line  of  New  York,  under  General  William 
Gibbs  McNeil,  and  Major  George  W.  Whistler  as  Con- 
sulting Engineers,  and  Captain  W.  H.  Swift  as  Resident 


180  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

Engineer,  and  afterwards  in  the  surveys,  location,  and  con- 
struction of  the  Albany  and  West  Stockbridge  Railroad, 
as  Resident  Engineer,  with  General  McNeil  and  Major 
Whistler  as  Consulting  Engineers. 

The  route  between  Springfield  and  Pittsfield  crossed  the 
Green  Mountain  range.  At  that  early  period  grave  doubts 
were  entertained  of  the  practicability  of  constructing  a 
railroad  over  this  range,  to  be  worked  by  locomotives. 
No  experiment  had  then  been  made  in  this  country  of 
running  a  line  through  a  district  with  such  formidable 
obstacles,  and  he  was  deemed  a  bold  man  who  could  give 
promise  of  success.  In  their  report,  the  Engineers  say  : 
"This  six  and  a  half  miles,  from  Chester  to  Washington 
Summit,  is  the  most  difficult  and  expensive  part  of  the 
route.  The  river  is  exceedingly  crooked  and  the  moun- 
tains shut  in  on  both  sides,  leaving  scarcely  room  for  a 
road,  and  requiring  numerous  crossings.  The  rocky  points 
thrust  themselves  quite  down  to  the  stream,  and  no  alter- 
native is  left,  except  a  resort  to  very  objectionable  curva- 
tures between  these  points.  The  grade  here  is  also  very 
steep,  being  eighty-two  feet  per  mile." 

Captain  Childe  had  the  direction  of  the  surveys  and 
location  through  this  district,  and  he  entered  upon  the 
work  with  great  professional  enthusiasm.  A  friend  who 
accompanied  him  in  his  first  reconnoissance,  represents 
him,  on  winding  in  among  the  hills,  as  swinging  his  hat 
and  exclaiming,  "  This  is  the  place  for  engineering"  After 
great  labor  and  industry  he  accomplished  the  task  assigned 
him  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  Managers  of  the 
road. 


CAPTAIN  JOHN  CHILDE.  181 

From  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-four  to  forty-five  he 
was  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Troy  and  Albany  Railroad,  and 
also  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Connecticut  River  Railroad  to 
eighteen  hundred  and  forty-seven. 

From  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-seven  to  forty-nine 
Captain  Childe  was  actively  employed  as  Consulting  En- 
gineer by  the  Connecticut  River  Railroad  Company  in 
their  alterations  at  Hadley  Falls,  also  in  the  survey  of  the 
line  between  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  and  Cam  den,  one 
hundred  and  eighty  miles  ;  by  the  Lehigh  and  Schuylkill 
Coal  Company  and  the  New  Boston  Coal  Company  ;  by 
the  Cattawissa  and  Somerville  Railroad  Company  ;  by 
the  Cincinnati  and  Hamilton  Railroad  Company,  as 
to  the  termination  of  their  line  in  Cincinnati  ;  by  the 
Buffalo  and  Niagara  Falls  Railroad  Company,  on  the 
proposed  extension  of  the  line  to  Lewiston  ;  and  at 
Zanesville,  on  the  best  mode  of  proceeding  with  the  Ohio 
Central  Railroad.  He  made  also,  in  eighteen  hundred 
and  forty-eight,  a  survey  and  report  of  the  Albany  and 
Cohoes  Railroad,  and  in  June,  of  the  same  year,  was  Con- 
sulting Engineer,  with  Benjamin  H.  Latrobe  and  Jona- 
than Knight,  in  the  service  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio 
Railroad  Company,  on  the  location  of  that  road  over  one 
of  the  most  difficult  of  the  mountain  passes  beyond  Cum- 
berland. He  spent  a  fortnight  in  the  reconnoissance  of 
this  pass,  and  confirmed,  with  his  able  and  experienced 
colleague,  the  location  made  by  Mr.  Latrobe  the  previous 
year,  upon  which  the  road  was  subsequently  built,  and 
operated  with  success.  In  eighteen  hundred  and  forty- 
nine,  he  was  consulted  by  the  Hartford  and  New  Haven 
Railroad  Company,  on  a  tunnel  and  new  depot. 


182  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

From  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-eight  to  eighteen 
hundred  and  fifty-one,  Captain  Childe  was  Chief  Engineer 
of  the  Cleveland,  Columbus,  and  Cincinnati  Railroad,  Ohio, 
and  this  road,  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  miles  in 
length,  was  located  and  constructed  under  his  supervision, 
though  only  a  portion  of  his  time  was  devoted  to  it. 

The  connection  of  Captain  Childe  with  the  internal  im- 
provements of  the  Southern  States  commenced  in  the 
autumn  of  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-eight. 

The  Mobile  and  Ohio  Railroad  Company  having  organ- 
ized for  the  purpose  of  building  a  road  from  Mobile  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Ohio  river,  a  distance  of  about  five  hundred 
miles,  the  Directors  determined  to  place  at  the  head  of  its 
Engineering  Department  the  most  competent  man  that 
could  be  secured.  It  was  the  longest  road  that  had  been 
attempted  in  the  United  States  at  that  time,  under, one 
management,  and  running  across  four  different  States, 
through  a  region  where  railroads  were  wholly  unknown, 
many  difficulties  were  anticipated,  not  only  from  the 
nature  of  the  country,  but  from  the  inexperience  of  the 
inhabitants  of  everything  connected  with  railroad  con- 
struction and  operation. 

The  following  extract  from  the  report  of  the  Directors 
at  the  first  annual  meeting  of  the  stockholders,  held  at 
Mobile,  February  fifth,  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-nine, 
shows  the  feelings  actuating  them  in  making  the  appoint- 
ment of  Chief  Engineer  : 

"  One  of  the  earliest  and  most  important  duties  devolv- 
ing upon  the  Board,  was  the  selection  of  a  competent 
engineer,  to  make  a  thorough  and  accurate  survey  of  the 


CAPTAIN  JOHN  CHILDE.  183 

route.  Fully  impressed  with  the  bearing  which  this 
appointment  would  have  upon  the  prospects  of  the  road, 
and  with  the  necessity  of  securing  an  engineer  of  the 
highest  character  for  professional  skill,  the  matter  was 
given  in  charge  of  a  Committee  of  three  Directors,  two  of 
whom  immediately  proceeded  North  upon  the  duties 
assigned  them.  They  found  the  best  engineering  talent 
everywhere  employed,  and  commanding  large  salaries 
upon  the  various  public  works  in  progress  in  the  Northern 
States,  and  they  experienced  much  difficulty  and  delay 
before  they  were  able  to  fill  the  appointment.  The  Board 
have  less  reason  to  regret  this  delay,  however,  as  it  has 
enabled  the  Committee  to  obtain  the  services  of  Captain 
John  Childe,  as  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Company,  a  gentle- 
man whose  high  reputation  and  great  and  varied  experi- 
ence in  railroad  construction,  qualify  him  eminently  for 
the  work,  and  command  for  his  reports  the  highest  degree 
of  public  confidence/' 

The  appointment  was  tendered  and  accepted  in  Sep- 
tember, eighteen  hundred  and  forty-eight,  and  Captain 
Childe  entered  upon  the  discharge  of  his  duties  with 
characteristic  promptness  and  energy. 

Four  parties  of  engineers  were  placed  on  the  line  of  the 
road  to  make  the  preliminary  surveys,  under  principal 
assistants  of  tried  skill  and  ability,  and  in  December,  of 
this  year,  Captain  Childe  himself  came  upon  the  route. 
He  first  visited  the  northern  terminus,  opposite  Cairo, 
from  thence  to  Columbus,  and  then  over  the  whole  line  to 
Mobile,  where  he  made  a  preliminary  report  to  the  Board, 
on  the  fifth  of  January,  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-nine. 


184  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

During  the  spring  and  summer  of  this  year  the  surveys 
were  vigorously  prosecuted  and  brought  to  completion, 
and  in  the  autumn  ensuing  the  maps,  profiles,  and  esti- 
mates of  the  entire  road  were  finished. 

During  the  summer,  a  section,  thirty-three  miles  long 
at  the  southern  end,  extending  from  Mobile  to  Citronelle, 
was  located,  and  the  work  of  construction  commenced. 
Having  determined  the  character  and  cost  of  the  road, 
with  its  general  location,  the  next  step  was  to  raise  the 
necessary  funds  to  build  it.  An  unsuccessful  application 
had  already  been  made  to  Congress  for  an  appropriation 
of  a  portion  of  the  unoccupied  public  lands  along  the 
route. 

During  the  session  of  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-nine 
and  fifty,  Captain  Childe  spent  most  of  the  time  at  Wash- 
ington, laboring  with  his  usual  energy  and  discretion,  and 
the  result  was  the  passage  of  an  act  donating  about  one 
million  acres  of  land  in  aid  of  the  Company.  This  was  the 
first  of  a  series  of  acts  of  Congress  on  this  subject. 

Captain  Childe  now  returned  to  the  line  of  the  road, 
and,  being  clothed  by  the  Board  of  Directors  with  full 
powers  as  General  Agent  of  the  Company,  as  well  as  Chief 
Engineer,  he  commenced  a  course  of  successful  labor  that 
has  seldom  been  excelled  in  the  annals  of  American  rail- 
road construction. 

From  one  end  to  the  other  of  its  long  line,  with  unflag- 
ging energy,  did  he  labor  to  accomplish  the  desired  end. 
He  organized,  placed  in  the  field,  and  superintended  the 
surveying  parties  engaged  in  perfecting  the  location  from 
Citronelle  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio.  On  horseback  he 


CAPTAIN  JOHN  CHILDE.  185 

explored  the  country  tributary  to  the  road,  to  determine 
the  feasibility  of  constructing  branch  lines  from  sections 
whose  commerce  would  justify  the  outla}7.  He  examined 
the  eastern  part  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  to  ascertain  the 
practicability  of  continuing  the  railroad  on  the  west  side 
of  the  Mississippi  river  to  St.  Louis,  and  the  great  North- 
west. 

He  directed  the  classifying  and  arranging  of  the  lands 
donated  by  Congress,  and  superintended  the  surveys. 

In  addition  to  his  professional  labors,  he  canvassed  the 
whole  country  through  which  the  railroad  was  to  be  built, 
county  by  county,  town  by  town,  and  almost  house  by 
house,  to  obtain  subscriptions  of  stock,  and  to  interest  the 
people  in  the  work.  He  organized  a  system  of  subscrip- 
tions by  the  counties  through  which  the  road  passed,  and 
his  efforts  were  successful  in  obtaining  aid  in  almost  every 
county  along  the  road.  He  visited  the  Legislatures  of  the 
States  through  which  the  road  was  located,  and  obtained 
valuable  privileges  from  them  for  the  Company. 

The  Railroad  Company  having  made  a  large  issue  of 
bonds,  based  upon  a  mortgage  of  the  road,  its  franchises^ 
and  the  lands  donated  by  Congress,  Captain  Childe,  with 
the  President,  Sidney  Smith,  were  charged  with  their 
negotiation.  In  pursuance  of  this  object,  he  went  to  Eng- 
land in  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-three,  and  again  in 
eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-five.  Though  not  succeeding 
in  disposing  of  the  bonds  to  the  extent  anticipated,  Capt. 
Childe  obtained  the  iron  and  equipments  for  about  two 
hundred  miles  of  the  lower  portion  of  the  road,  and  for  a 
part  of  the  northern  section. 


186  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-two,  trains  commenced 
running  over  the  finished  road  to  Citronelle,  gradually 
reaching  farther  into  the  country,  year  by  year,  as  the 
road  was  extended.  In  addition  to  his  duties  as  Chief 
Engineer  and  General  Agent,  Captain  Childe  acted  as 
General  Superintendent  of  Transportation.  The  labors 
which  he  performed  for  this  road  until  eighteen  hundred 
and  fifty-six,  when,  owing  to  a  change  of  the  Directors, 
his  professional  connection  with  it  terminated,  can  scarcely 
be  exaggerated. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-two  Captain  Childe 
was  appointed  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Tennessee  and 
Alabama  Railroad,  designed  to  connect  Nashville,  the 
capital  of  Tennessee,  with  the  Mobile  and  Ohio  Rail- 
road, in  Mississippi,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
distant. 

He  immediately  organized  an  efficient  corps  of  engi- 
neers, directed  their  movements  for  surveying  and  loca- 
ting the  line,  planned  the  mode  of  construction,  and  had 
the  work  commenced  upon  it  at  the  northern  end  before 
the  close  of  this  year. 

In  the  spring  of  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-three  he 
was  appointed  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Nashville  and  Cin- 
cinnati Railroad.  The  object  of  this  road  was  to  connect 
the  cities  of  Nashville,  Tenn.,  and  Danville,  Ky.  From 
the  latter  point  a  railroad  was  already  in  progress  to  Cin- 
cinnati. He  immediately  organized  two  parties  of  engi- 
neers, had  the  surveys  carefully  made,  the  cost  estimated, 
and  on  the  second  day  of  the  following  December  made  a 
report  to  the  Board  of  Directors  upon  the  cost  of  the  road, 


CAPTAIN  JOHN  CHILDE.  187 

and  the  resources  of  the  country  through  which  it  would 
pass. 

He  took  charge  of  constructing  the  New  Orleans  and 
Ohio  Railroad  in  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-three,  ex- 
tending as  a  branch  of  the  Mobile  and  Ohio,  from  near  the 
northern  boundary  of  Tennessee  to  Paducah,  at  the  con- 
fluence of  the  Ohio  and  Tennessee  rivers,  organizing  their 
affairs  upon  a  sound  basis,  and  stimulating  them  to  exer- 
tions that  finally  were  crowned  with  success. 

In  the  spring  of  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-five  he  was 
appointed  to  report  upon  two  surveys,  made  by  different 
engineers,  for  the  Edgefield  and  Kentucky  Railroad.  It 
resulted  in  recommendations  and  suggestions  that  were 
adopted  by  the  Company,  and  insured  the  completion  of 
their  road. 

About  the  same  time  the  Nashville  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce applied  to  him  for  a  professional  opinion  upon  the 
proposed  location  of  the  railroad  bridge  over  the  Cumber- 
land river  at  Nashville.  His  professional  connection  with 
the  New  Orleans  and  Ohio  Railroad  ceased  in  eighteen 
hundred  and  fifty-six,  and  with  the  Tennessee  and  Ala- 
bama Railroad  in  June,  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-seven. 

In  October,  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty,  he  was  asso- 
ciated with  General  Wm.  Gibbs  McNeil  andC.  S.  Growski, 
a  Civil  Engineer  of  Canada,  in  examining  and  making  a 
report  upon  the  most  feasible  plan  for  the  improvement 
of  the  navigation  of  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  particularly 
at  Lake  St.  Peters.  This  lake  being  but  eleven  feet  deep 
at  low  water,  presented  a  very  serious  obstacle  to  the 
navigation  of  the  river.  To  improve  this  navigation  the 


188  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

Provincial  Parliament,  as  early  as  eighteen  hundred  and 
forty- three,  made  a  grant  of  money  for  deepening  the 
channel  to  fourteen  feet  at  low  water,  to  be  done  under 
the  direction  of  the  Board  of  Public  Works.  They  under- 
took to  form  an  entirely  new  channel,  and  in  four  seasons 
spent  upon  it  about  three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  when 
the  Government  stopped  the  work  as  a  complete  failure. 

Nothing  further  was  done  until  eighteen  hundred  and 
forty,  when,  by  the  procurement  of  the  Hon.  John 
Young,  the  Board  of  Harbor  Commissioners  of  Montreal 
were  authorized  to  undertake  the  work,  and  Mr.  Young 
was  appointed  upon  the  Commission.  The  first  step  taken 
at  his  suggestion  was  to  appoint  the  above  Board  of  Engi- 
neers, to  report  upon  the  best  course  to  be  pursued  to 
obtain  a  ship  canal,  sixteen  feet  in  depth  at  low  water. 

After  a  careful  examination  and  survey,  the  Board  of 
Engineers  made  a  report,  recommending  the  abandonment 
of  the  work  done  on  the  new  channel,  and  the  excavation 
of  the  old  one  to  sixteen  feet  in  depth  and  forty-five  feet 
in  width. 

The  recommendation  to  abandon  a  work  upon  which 
the  Government  had  expended  such  a  large  sum  of  money 
met  with  much  opposition,  and  the  business  community 
were  for  a  time  divided  in  opinion  on  the  subject.  The 
plan  was,  however,  adopted  by  the  Harbor  Commissioners, 
and  with  complete  success  in  the  result. 

When,  in  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-seven,  the  Board 
of  Harbor  Commissioners  was  established  for  constructing 
an  extensive  harbor  at  Montreal,  Captain  Childe  was 
employed  and  authorized  to  organize  a  corps  of  engineers 


CAPTAIN  JOHN  CHILDE.  189 

to  make  the  necessary  examinations  for  this  work  and 
report  thereon  to  the  Commissioners.  This  enterprise 
contemplated  a  very  large  expenditure  in  money,  and  its 
execution  required  superior  engineering  talent.  Captain 
Childe  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  corps,  and  Messrs. 
William  J.  McAlpine  and  James  P.  Kirkwood  were  asso- 
ciated with  him.  He  devoted  himself  with  great  assiduity 
and  industry  to  the  preliminary  surveys,  plans,  and  esti- 
mates for  the  extensive  masonry  and  other  work  required. 
In  preparing  a  report  for  the  Commissioners,  he  main- 
tained an  extensive  correspondence,  gathering  the  statistics 
of  trade  which  would  be  affected  by  the  harbor,  or  have 
an  influence  in  recommending  its  construction.  He  had 
collected  a  large  amount  of  statistical  information  relating 
more  particularly  to  the  commerce  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
and  to  Canada,  and,  while  occupied  in  arranging  these 
materials  for  the  official  report,  which  he  was  designated 
to  prepare,  together  with  the  necessary  maps  and  draw- 
ings, he  was  suddenly  prostrated  by  illness,  which  termi- 
nated his  life,  on  the'  second  day  of  February,  eighteen 
hundred  and  fifty-eight.* 

To  a  lover  of  nature,  to  one  who  is  fond  of  adventure, 
and  finds  real  companionship  in  the  solitude  of  forests, 
the  profession  of  a  Civil  Engineer  has  a  peculiar  attrac- 
tion, free  as  it  is,  alike  from  the  trammels  of  social 


*  Captain  Childe,  during  his  professional  career,  was  the  inventor  of  many 
mechanical  improvements,  the  most  prominent  of  which  are :  the  Hoisting 
Machinery  at  Greenbush  depot,  opposite  Albany,  for  transferring  freight  from  cars 
to  boats,  and  vice  versa;  the  Variable  Cut-off  for  locomotive  engines,  and  the 
Extended  Fire-box  for  locomotives. 


190  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

etiquette,  and  the  monotony  which  attaches  to  almost 
every  profession  connected  with  city  life. 

Captain  Childe's  enthusiasm  for  the  Mobile  and  Ohio 
Railroad,  and  his  devotion  to  it,  were  like  that  of  the 
artist  for  his  model  of  clay,  as  he  looks  forward  to  its 
glorious  resurrection  in  living  marble,  or  the  painter,  who, 
as  he  adds  touch  after  touch  to  the  canvas,  each  so  little 
in  itself,  dreams  and  warms  into  enthusiasm  as  he  antici- 
pates the  finished  landscape  which  shall  rouse  the 
beholder  to  a  fresher  appreciation  of  the  glories  of  nature. 

No  doubt,  to  the  uninitiated  an  absorbing  enthusiasm 
for  a  railroad  seems  improbable,  but  to  one  like  Captain 
Childe,  a  railroad  is  endowed  with  a  personal  and  moral 
power,  inculcating  patriotism,  lessening  sectional  preju- 
dices, and  binding  together,  by  social  and  commercial 
interests,  North  and  South,  East  and  West. 

He  looked  forward  to  the  day,  when  the  road  being 
finished,  its  passing  trains  should,  as  a  shuttle,  weave  into 
closer  bonds  the  commercial  interests  of  the  whole  valley 
of  the  Mississippi,  from  the  Northern  Lakes  to  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico. 

Such  were  the  sentiments,  and  such  the  spirit,  in  which 
Capt.  Childe  labored. 

The  character  of  Captain  Childe,  whether  it  be  regarded 
from  a  professional  or  personal  point  of  view,  was  not  an 
ordinary  one.  That  his  industry  was  incessant,  and  his 
power  of  executing  the  most  elaborate  work  unusually 
great,  it  is  only  necessary  to  peruse  this  outline  of  his  pro- 
fessional labors,  to  understand.  In  reference  to  his  great 
professional  work  on  the  Mobile  and  Ohio  Railroad,  a 


CAPTAIN  JOHN  CHILDE.  191 

friend,  who  was  a  witness  of  his  efforts,  says:  "These 
labors  cannot  easily  be  so  described  as  to  give  any  correct 
idea  of  what  annoyance  and  vexation  he  met  with.  To 
plan  the  road,  to  induce  the  public  to  sustain  it,  to  smooth 
asperities,  to  supervise,  and  to  be  the  fiscal  agent  also, 
left  his  mind  and  body  but  little  repose.  Those  employed 
by  him,  no  matter  how  or  where,  had  a  ready  compliance 
with  his  requirements,  arising  from  his  just  and  impartial 
character." 

In  connection  with  another  road,  a  friend  writes  of  him: 
"  I  had  constant  opportunities  to  admire  his  sound  judg- 
ment, his  resolute,  laborious,  and  self-sacrificing  fidelity, 
and  the  modest  firmness  and  dignity  with  which  he  main- 
tained his  position  on  disputed  questions  of  theory  and 
practice.  His  official  reports  were  models  for  logical  force 
and  accuracy,  and  for  remarkable  terseness  and  clearness 
of  statement,  and  were  generally  conclusive  in  the  matters 
they  discussed.  They  also  exhibited  a  trait  of  character, 
which  gave  to  all  his  representations  hardly  less  weight 
than  the  reasons  he  ufged.  I  refer  to  his  unswerving 
integrity  and  fearless  independence.  All  who  knew  him 
or  heard  him  felt  that  his  loyalty  to  truth  was  so  uncom- 
promising that  he  never  spoke  without  uttering  his  honest 
thought,  irrespective  of  persons,  place,  or  policy,  and 
regardless  alike  of  whom  it  might  please  or  displease,  and 
of  its  effect  on  himself  or  others.77 

With  a  mind  of  undeviating  honesty  and  unflinching 
integrity,  severe  in  his  requirements  of  himself,  but  gentle 
as  a  woman  in  his  judgment  of  others,  he  combined  a  ten- 
derness for  the  weak,  the  erring,  and  the  ignorant,  as  rare 


192  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

as  it  is  beautiful  to  see.  With  a  mind  which  he  himself 
said  grew  strong  with  opposition  and  obstacles,  he  had 
yet  a  ready  sympathy  to  help  upward  and  onward  all  who 
appealed  to  him.  Few  persons,  in  proportion  to  their 
means,  have  given  more  to  others.  His  private  papers 
are  a  noble  record  of  generous  deeds. 

He  fully  embodied  the  ideal  of  the  Christian  gentleman. 
His  courtesy  was  a  marked  feature,  and  was  never  laid 
aside,  because  it  was  nothing  assumed,  but  the  natural 
outgrowth  of  his  manly,  generous,  and  deeply  religious 
nature.  He  was  an  ardent  lover  of  nature.  A  friend 
once  said  of  him  :  "It  seems  to  me  not  a  cloud  passes 
over  his  head,  not  a  bud  blossoms,  not  a  tree  waves  in  the 
sunlight,  but  brings  him  a  real  pleasure.  The  rising  and 
setting  sun,  the  moonlight  and  the  starlight,  are  fresher 
enjoyments  to  him  than  to  any  one  I  have  ever  known. 
Each  morning  seemed  to  rouse  him  naturally  to  grateful 
devotions  ;  and  he  often  remarked,  '  That  nature  did  all 
things  gently  and  gradually,'  and  he  used  the  dawning  of 
day  as  one  of  the  many  reproofs  nature  offers  to  man  for 
his  reckless  haste  in  bringing  about  his  own  wishes  and 
purposes." 

He  often  expressed  himself  thus  :  "  When  I  feel  that  I 
have  exhausted  the  capacities  for  enjoyment  of  a  single 
day,  I  may  entertain  the  idea  of  being  weary  of  this  life. 
It  is  a  glorious  world  !  and  there  is  so  much  to  do  in  it !  " 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Unitarian  Church,  and,  both 
in  his  private  and  public  life,  he  walked  worthily  of  his 
profession  of  a  follower  of  Christ.  He  was  specially  fond 
of  devotional  exercises,  both  private  and  public. 


CAPTAIN  JOHN  CHILDE.  193 

In  all  the  relations  of  social  life  he  was  genial  and 
sympathetic  in  a  high  degree,  and  in  addition  to  that  in- 
fluence over  others  which  truly  cultivated  and  spiritually 
minded  men  usually  have,  he  possessed  in  a  large  measure 
what  might  be  termed  a  magnetic  personal  attraction. 

His  fine,  erect  figure,  and  martial  bearing,  and  his 
strikingly  intellectual  countenance  impressed  even  those 
who  casually  met  him.  He  was  eminently  gifted  in  con- 
versation, and  in  that  rare  power  of  imparting  knowledge 
to  others,  which  gave  to  his  companionship  a  peculiar 
charm  and  value. 

In  his  friendships  there  was  a  singular  character  of 
tenacity  and  devotion.  As  husband  and  father,  he  was 
all  the  Christian  should  be — anxious  for  the  welfare  of 
those  he  loved  with  deepest  devotion,  never  sparing  him- 
self for  one  moment  in  anything  that  could  contribute  to 
their  pleasure  or  happiness. 

To  his  keen  appreciation  of  the  beauty  of  the  world 
around  him  was  added  a  full  enjoyment  of  the  minor 
pleasures  of  the  fireside,  and  the  seemingly  grave  man, 
full  of  plans,  minute  calculations,  and  weighty  duties,  was 
always  ready  to  frolic  with  children,  and  to  join  in  all  the 
pleasures  of  the  home  circle.  His  manner  was  singularly 
calm  and  self-possessed,  and  gave  an  impression  of  purity 
of  heart,  which  was  a  silent  rebuke  to  every  unworthy 
word  or  deed,  and  seemed  to  throw  an  exalting  influence 
upon  all  around  him. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-two  Captain  Childe 
married  Laura,  daughter  of  James  S.  Dwight,  of  Spring- 
field, Mass.  Their  only  son  died  in  eighteen  hundred  and 


194  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

thirty-eight.  Mrs.  Childe,  and  the  oldest  daughter,  aged 
nineteen  years,  were  lost  on  board  the  ill-fated  Arctic, 
while  returning  from  Europe. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-six  he  married  Ellen  W., 
daughter  of  Mark  Healy,  of  Boston.  He  died  at  his  home 
in  Springfield,  leaving  a  widow,  daughter,  and  son,  and 
was  buried  in  the  Springfield  Cemetery,  where  a  monu- 
ment is  erected  to  his  memory. 


FRBDEEICK   HARBACH, 


CIVIL  ENGINEER. 


FREDERICK  HARBACH,  the  fourth  child  of  Thomas  and 
Nancy  Harbach,  was  born  in  the  town  of  Sutton,  Worces- 
ter County,  Massachusetts,  the  twenty-ninth  day  of  April, 
eighteen  hundred  and  seventeen.  His  father  was  a  woollen 
manufacturer.  Frederick,  at  his  thirteenth  year,  had  re- 
ceived only  the  education  afforded  by  a  common  district 
school,  but  at  this  period  the  removal  of  his  father  to 
Worcester  afforded  him  the  advantages  of  the  excellent 
schools  of  that  city.  From  early  childhood  he  manifested 
that  ingenuity,  decision,  and  indomitable  perseverance, 
which  were  through  life  his  special  characteristics. 

From  infancy  Frederick  suffered  from  some  malady  of 
the  heart,  and  active  exercise  would  cause  violent  palpita- 
tions, accompanied  by  bleeding  of  the  nose,  and  although 
this  weakness  unfitted  him  for  manual  labor,  he  never 
pleaded  sickness  as  an  excuse  for  the  avoidance  of  duty, 
and  very  rarely,  even  when  a  child,  mentioned  to  any  one 
the  pain  he  suffered. 

At  an  early  period  he  displayed  great  fondness  for 
machinery,  spending  most  of  his  leisure  hours  in  visiting 
factories  and  machine  shops,  and  was  often  engaged  in 


195 


196  CIYIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

fashioning   some    toy   engine    or   invention    of  his  own. 
Railroad  construction  soon  attracted  his  attention. 

In  the  spring  of  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-six  ,he 
obtained  the  situation  of  chain-man  under  the  late  Herman 
Stebbins,  C.  E.,  and  was  engaged  upon  the  surveys  and 
location  of  the  railroad  from  Springfield  to  Albany,  at  a 
salary  of  sixteen  dollars  per  month.  Later,  Mr.  Stebbins 
was  placed  in  charge  of  the  construction  of  the  third  divi- 
sion of  this  work,  and  held  this  position  till  his  death  in 
the  fall  of  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-eight.  Mr.  Har- 
bach  was  then  promoted  to  the  place  thus  made  vacant, 
and  successfully  completed  the  division  in  the  latter  part 
of  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-nine. 

In  July,  eighteen  hundred  and  forty,  he  was  appointed 
Assistant  Engineer  on  the  Albany  and  West  Stockbridge 
Railroad,  under  Captain  John  Childe.  His  execution  of 
the  work  of  this  division  added  to  his  growing  reputation. 
In  June,  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-three,  he  was  called 
to  the  Hartford  and  Springfield  Railroad,  and  remained 
upon  it  as  Chief  Engineer,  until  its  completion  in  the 
spring  of  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-five.  The  same  year 
he  was  appointed  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Pittsfield  and 
North  Adams  Railroad,  and  remained  in  charge  until  its 
completion  in  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-seven.  The 
thorough  and  economical  construction  of  this  work  estab- 
lished for  him  a  high  professional  reputation. 

He  purchased,  in  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-seven,  an 
interest  in  Gordon  McKay's  machine  shop,  at  Pittsfield, 
Mass.,  and  entered  into  engagements  with  parties  to  start 
a  woollen  factory  in  the  same  town  ;  but  shortly  after  dis- 


FREDERICK  HARBACH.  197 

posed  of  his  interests  and  accepted  an  appointment  upon 
the  Cleveland,  Columbus  and  Cincinnati  Railroad,  under 
Captain  John  Childe,  Chief  Engineer,  and  made  the  pre- 
liminary surveys  of  that  railroad.  In  the  spring  of 
eighteen  hundred  and  forty-eight,  he  formed  a  partner- 
ship with  Amasa  Stone,  Jr.,  and  Stillman  Witt,  and 
executed  a  contract  to  build,  and  equip,  entire  (except  the 
iron),  the  Cleveland,  Columbus  and  Cincinnati  Railroad. 
This  was  successfully  accomplished,  Mr.  Harbach,  with  his 
indefatigable  energy  pushing  forward  all  parts  of  the  great 
undertaking.  At  the  same  time  he  was  Chief  Engineer  of 
the  Michigan  Southern  and  Northern  Indiana  Railroad, 
carrying  that  enterprise  along  with  equal  vigor.  Scarcely 
was  the  Cleveland,  Columbus  and  Cincinnati  Railroad 
completed,  when  Messrs.  Harbach,  Stone  and  Witt  con- 
tracted to  build  the  Cleveland,  Painesville  and  Ashtabula 
Railroad,  and,  in  his  own  name,  contracting  to  execute  the 
work  of  the  Pennsylvania  section  of  the  road,  twenty-five 
miles  in  length. 

With  all  the  responsibilities  attending  the  construction 
of  five  hundred  miles  of  railroad,  he  found  time  to  invent 
and  procure  Letters  Patent  for  a  rotary  dumping  car,  for 
a  saw  to  cut  off  pile  heads  under  water,  for  a  safety 
switch,  for  an  improvement  in  steam  saw-mills,  for  car 
wheels,  for  an  iron  railroad  bridge,  and  for  a  coal-burning 
locomotive  engine.  In  the  purchase  and  improvement  of 
Western  real  estate,  he  was  likewise  largely  interested. 

But  his  labors  and  unremitting  application  told  heavily 
on  a  constitution  naturally  weak.  The  old  malady  of  the 
heart  was  doing  its  fatal  work,  and  at  the  Astor  House, 


198  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 


I 


New  York,  where  lie  had  gone  on  business,  he  breathed 
his  last,  on  the  thirteenth  day  of  February,  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  fifty-one.  With  his  genius  still  culminating  and 
his  brain  yet  teeming  with  broad  ideas  of  commercial 
progress  and  brilliant  creations  for  that  great  civilizer,  the 
railroad  ;  with  riches  at  his  command,  and  with  a  princely 
fortune  gathering  in  the  train  of  his  gigantic  projects,  thus 
died  the  foremost  of  the  young  engineers  of  America. 


pa  fnr  Gtuarts 


MAJOK   DAVID  BATES  DOUGLASS, 

CIVIL    AND    MILITARY    ENGINEER. 


DAVID  BATES  DOUGLASS,  son  of  Nathaniel  and  Sarah 
Bates  Douglass,  was  born  at  Pompton,  New  Jersey, 
March  twenty-first,  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety.  His 
mother,  a  woman  of  superior  mind,  was  a  sister  of  David 
S.  Bates,  a  distinguished  engineer,  whose  memoir  is  con- 
tained in  this  volume. 

Mrs.  Douglass  superintended  personally  the  education  of 
her  son,  carefully  directing  his  studies  until  his  entrance 
at  Yale  College,  from  which  he  graduated  with  high 
honors  in  September,  eighteen  hundred  and  thirteen. 

Young  Douglass  directed  his  steps  immediately  from 
Yale  to  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point,  where  he 
made  application  to  General  Joseph  G.  Swift,  for  an 
appointment  in  the  Engineer  Corps  of  the  United  States 
Army,  and  received  from  him  a  recommendation  to  the 
Secretary  of  War,  then  engaged  at  Sackett's  Harbor.  His 
journey  to  that  place,  and  the  result  of  his  application,  is 
told  in  the  following  extracts  from  a  letter  to  Professor 
Olmstead,  of  Yale  College,  under  date  of  October,  eight- 
een hundred  and  forty- three  : 

"We  took  our  degrees,  I  remember,  on  the  eighteenth 

199 


200  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

of  September.  On  the  first  of  October  I  was  an  officer  of 
Engineers  in  the  United  States  Army.  My  determination 
had  been  previously  formed,  and  I  travelled  alone  and 
almost  unaided  to  Sackett's  Harbor  to  prefer  my  applica- 
tion. Men  of  education  were  in  great  request  for  that 
department  of  service,  and  I  was  commissioned  in  ten 
minutes  after  presenting  myself.  Could  you  realize  the 
discouragements  of  that  journey  through  woods  and  over 
corde-du-roi  roads,  or  sinking  in  the  swamps  at  that  season 
of  the  year,  you  would  better  imagine  the  happiness  of  the 
moment  which  crowned  my  perseverance  with  such  suc- 
cess. I  returned  immediately  to  West  Point  to  prepare 
for  the  next  year's  campaign,  and  there  found  myself  a  few 
weeks  after,  the  commander  of  a  corps  of  Sappers  and 
Miners,  and  presently  commander  of  the  post.  These  were 
to  me,  then,  very  novel  responsibilities.  I  mention  them 
not  vauntingly,  but  for  the  moral  they  contain  ;  they 
compelled  me  to  take  position,  to  assume  responsibility, 
and  to  sustain  myself  in  both  ;  to  the  habit  of  doing  this 
is  owing  whatever  of  usefulness  I  may  have  achieved  in 
all  my  subsequent  life." 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  fourteen  he  was  detailed  with 
his  command  in  the  North-western  campaign  of  that  year. 
To  Professor  Olmstead  he  wrote  :  "The  whole  campaign 
was  a  rapid  series  of  occasions  requiring  the  greatest 
promptness  and  energy.  The  bayonets  of  a  numerous 
hostile  foe  were  glittering  in  plain  sight  when  I  joined  the 
division.  The  battle  of  Lundy's  Lane  occurred  only 
twelve  days  after,  and  was  followed  by  the  siege  of  Fort 
Erie,  where  a  series  of  sharp  encounters  and  an  unceasing 


MAJOR  DAVID  BATES  DOUGLASS.  201 

cannonade  was  sustained  for  about  six  weeks,  when  the 
memorable  sortie  broke  up  the  enemy's  line  and  compelled 
him  to  retire." 

During  this  siege,  the  little  army  at  Fort  Erie,  pressed 
by  the  reinforcements  of  General  Drummond,  was  saved 
from  annihilation  by  the  intrenchments  which  were  built 
by  this  youthful  officer,  who,  to  use  his  own  words,  u  was 
there  day  and  night,  regardless  of  rest  and  shelter,  to 
superintend  and  direct  them.  The  working  parties  were 
relieved,  but  myself  never."  By  this  means  the  army  was 
covered  with  defensible  intrenchments  in  less  time  than 
was  ever  before  known.  On  the  fifteenth  of  August  the 
attack  was  made  by  the  reinforced  enemy,  under  cover  of 
night,  in  three  strong  columns,  of  which  the  centre  one, 
moving  upon  Fort  Erie  proper,  succeeded  in  gaining  a 
footing  in  the  salient  bastion  of  that  work.  The  interior 
arrangements  fortunately  prevented  further  penetration, 
and  the  assailants  were  dislodged.  But,  had  the  left 
column  which  attacked  the  "Douglass  Battery"  and  the 
intrenchments  of  the  extreme  right  succeeded,  Fort  Erie 
must  have  been  lost.  No  interior  works  were  there  to 
prevent  the  enemy's  progress.  Had  he  entered,  the  centre 
column  would  have  been  enabled  to  take  advantage  of  the 
position  •  it  was  strongly  organized  under  an  experienced 
commander,  and  did  not  cease  its  assaults  until  its  effective 
strength  had  been  reduced  from  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
men  to  less  than  two  hundred,  and  the  commander  slain. 

General  Gaines,  writing  upon  this  event  in  eighteen 
hundred  and  fifteen,  remarks  : 

"Among  the  many  brilliant  scenes  which  combined  to 


202  CIYIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

dispel  the  clouds  and  darkness,  and  brighten  the  dawn  of 
that  memorable  morning,  the  defence  of  the  '  Douglass 
Battery  '  stands  equalled  by  few,  and,  according  to  the 
relative  number  of  guns,  surpassed  by  none.  The  youth- 
ful commander  of  that  battery  excited  my  admiration. 
His  constancy  and  courage  during  a  brisk  cannonade  and 
bombardment  of  several  weeks,  often  in  the  night  as  well 
as  in  the  day,  his  gallantry  and  good  conduct  in  the 
defence  against  a  vigorous  assault  by  a  vast  superiority  of 
numbers,  are  incidents  which  can  never  cease  to  be  cher- 
ished in  my  memory  as  among  the  most  heroic  and  pleas- 
ing I  have  ever  witnessed.'7 

.  For  his  brilliant  services  upon  this  occasion  Lieutenant 
Douglass  was  promoted  Captain  by  brevet,  and  in  eight- 
een hundred  and  fifteen  was  detailed  for  duty  with  the 
army  then  organizing  against  Castine,  when  the  proclama- 
tion of  peace  changed  his  destination.  He  returned  to 
West  Point,  and  in  the  same  year  married  Miss  Anna  E. 
Ellicott,  daughter  of  Major  Andrew  Ellicott,  who  was  then 
Professor  of  Mathematics  at  the  Academy. 

In  April  of  this  year  Captain  Douglass  was  ordered  by 
General  Joseph  G-.  Swift  to  repair  to  the  States  of  Con- 
necticut and  Rhode  Island  to  examine  the  condition  of  the 
fortifications  in  the  harbors  of  New  Haven,  New  London, 
Stonington,  and  Newport.  Subsequently  to  this,  Captain 
Douglass  received  the  appointment  of  Assistant  Professor 
of  Natural  Philosophy  in  the  Military  Academy.  The 
succeeding  fifteen  years  of  Professor  Douglass's  life  were 
occupied  in  active  official  duties  at  West  Point  and  in 
civil  engineering. 


MAJOR  DAVID  BATES  DOUGLASS.  203 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  seventeen  he  received  instruc- 
tions from  General  Swift  to  make  a  reconnoissance  of  the 
eastern  entrance  to  Long  Island  Sound,  with  a  view  to  the 
construction  of  fortifications. 

By  a  resolution  of  the  Board  of  Canal  Commissioners  of 
Pennsylvania,  Major  Douglass  was  called  upon  to  make 
surveys  and  estimates  for  a  canal  from  Conneaut  Lake  to 
Lake  Erie  and  the  French  Creek  feeder,  in  accordance 
with  an  Act  of  the  Legislature  of  that  State,  passed  in 
February,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-six.  This  work 
was  completed  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Board  of  Commis- 
sioners, and  in  June,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-seven, 
he  was  appointed  by  the  same  Board  to  survey  the  line  of 
canal  to  Lake  Erie,  and  in  the  summer  of  the  following 
year  was  employed  upon  the  surveys  and  location  of  the 
Upper  Delaware  Canal.  LTpon  the  completion  of  this 
work,  in  April,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-seven,  he 
was  appointed  by  the  Sandy  and  Beaver  Canal  Company 
of  Ohio  to  revise  the  surveys  for  that  work,  which  was 
performed,  under  his  instruction,  by  Mr.  J.  Mahlin,  as 
Engineer.  Major  Douglass  also  accepted  an  appointment 
from  the  Board  of  Commissioners  of  Internal  Improve- 
ments of  Pennsylvania  to  make  surveys  and  examinations 
in  the  vicinity  of  Philadelphia,  with  a  view  to  design  the 
most  advantageous  terminus  for  the  Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road. 

In  November,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-eight, 
Major  Douglass  received  an  invitation  from  Hon.  C.  D. 
Colden,  to  accompany  a  corps  of  engineers  along  the  line 
of  the  Morris  Canal  (New  Jersey),  with  a  view  of  obtain- 


204  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

ing  an  opinion  relative  to  the  use  of  inclined  planes  in  the 
place  of  locks  on  the  contemplated  improvement. 

This  question  had  been  agitated  many  years,  and,  as 
early  as  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-three,  letters  were 
exchanged  between  Governor  De  Witt  Clinton  and  Major 
Douglass  relative  to  their  practicability  upon  the  Morris 
Canal 

Having  devoted  much  attention  to  the  subject,  he  gave 
his  views,  and  the  preference  of  the  Board  for  his  plan 
resulted  in  a  proposition  that  he  should  take  charge  of  the 
construction  of  the  work,  to  which  he  replied  :  4<  Having 
duly  considered  the  request  made  by  you,  in  behalf  of  the 
Morris  Canal  Company,  that  I  should  undertake  the  special 
direction  and  management  of  the  inclined  planes  on  the 
line  of  canal,  as  Chief  Engineer  of  the  same,  and  in  view 
of  the  explanations  which  have  passed  between  us  on  this 
subject,  I  beg  leave  to  submit  the  proposition  enclosed  as 
a  basis  of  an  arrangement  under  which  I  will  cheerfully 
comply  with  your  request,  provided  I  can  obtain  the 
necessary  dispensation  from  my  public  duties  in  the  Mili- 
tary Academy.'7 

The  proposition  was  cheerfully  acceded  to  by  the  Board, 
and  a  resolution  passed  to  appoint  Major  Douglass  Chief 
Engineer  at  a  compensation  of  four  thousand  dollars  per 
annum. 

The  petition  of  Major  Douglass  for  a  furlough  was  twice 
refused  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  but  the  unwillingness  of 
the  Canal  Company  to  relinquish  their  claim  upon  his  ser- 
vices, induced  him  to  make  an  effort  to  carry  forward  the 
work  with  the  aid  of  a  Resident  Engineer,  if  it  should  be 


MAJOR  DAVID  BATES  DOUGLASS,  205 

deemed  practicable.  With  this  design,  he  appealed  in 
March,  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty,  to  the  Department 
for  a  furlough,  as  follows  : 

"  A  necessity,  which  I  find  impossible  to  avoid  without 
dishonor,  compels  me  to  ask  leave  of  absence  from  my 
duties  in  the  Military  Academy  for  the  term  of  four  weeks, 
commencing  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  the  present  month. 
An  arrangement  has  been  made  for  the  performance  of 
my  duties  during  that  time,  and  as  the  class  has  nearly 
completed  its  studies  for  this  year,  it  is  believed  no  mate- 
rial inconvenience  will  result  to  my  pupils  in  consequence 
of  my  absence. 

"  I  was  induced  in  September  last  to  make  an  engage- 
ment for  services  upon  which  heavy  responsibilities  depend, 
and  from  which  I  could  not  afterward,  and  cannot  now, 
honorably  retract.  The  strict  performance  of  this  engage- 
ment would  require  me,  situated  as  I  now  am,  to  relin- 
quish my  position  in  the  public  service  altogether  ;  but  as 
I  am  not  prepared  to  act  upon  this  question,  thus  sud- 
denly and  unexpectedly  forced  upon  me,  I  submit  the 
present  application  as  my  only  alternative." 

A  furlough  was  granted,  and  Major  Douglass  imme- 
diately gave  his  personal  attention  to  the  work.  In  a 
letter  from  one  of  the  Directors,  Major  Douglass  was  thus 
advised  : 

"  You  are  authorized  by  the  Board  to  proceed  forth- 
with to  the  completion  of  one  of  the  two  planes  at  Mont- 
ville.  You  know  we  have  had  several  Plane  Engineers, 
and  must  expect  some  tenacity  of  opinion  in  the  several 
projectors.  But  your  drawings,  models,  and  explanations 


206  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

will  doubtless  be  effectual  for  this  purpose,  and  inspire 
more  confidence.  I  pray  you  proceed  at  once,  and  have 
the  work  completed  before  the  river  opens." 

Major  Douglass,  finding  his  personal  attention  indispen- 
sable to  the  successful  completion  of  the  inclined  planes, 
relinquished  his  position  in  the  public  service  in  the 
autumn  of  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty,  his  resignation  to 
take  effect  the  first  of  March,  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty- 
one.*  In  a  letter  to  General  Gratiot  he  thus  explained 
his  position  : 

"It  is  known  to  the  Department  that  I  have  become 
connected  with  the  Morris  Canal  Company,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  bringing  inclined  planes  into  effective  operation  in 
lieu  of  locks  for  canal  navigation.  I  have  become  in  some 
degree  identified  with  this  improvement,  and  as  it  is  one 
of  great  importance  in  civil  engineering,  I  have  thought  it 
due  to  myself  as  well  as  to  the  Company  that  I  should 
give  it  my  whole  time  and  attention.  I  would  gladly  have 
accomplished  this  object  as  an  officer  of  the  United  States, 
but  as  this  seems  incompatible  with  my  engagement  in  the 
Military  Academy,  I  have  no  alternative  but  to  relinquish 
my  station  entirely.  This,  and  not  the  offer  of  higher 
pay,  as  stated  by  the  Board  of  Visitors,  is  the  occasion  of 
my  resignation." 

Major  Douglass  directed  his  efforts  to  the  completion  of 
one  of  the  Montville  "  planes,"  in  the  autumn  of  eighteen 
hundred  and  thirty.  The  inclined  plane  proved  a  success; 

*  Major  Douglass  was  Professor  of  "Mathematics"  from  August  twenty-ninth, 
eighteen  hundred  and  twenty,  to  May  first,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-three, 
and  Professor  of  "Civil  and  Military  Engineering  " from  May  first,  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  twenty-three,  to  March  first,  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-one. 


MAJOR  DAVID  BATES  DOUGLASS.  207 

Major  Douglass  received  the  congratulations  of  the  Board, 
with  a  copy  of  the  following  report,  under  date  of  October 
twenty-fifth,  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty  : 

"  The  Committee  of  Directors  appointed  by  the  Board 
to  witness  a  trial  of  the  inclined  plane  at  Montville,  beg 
leave  to  report  that  on  Saturday  last  they  visited  and 
inspected  the  said  "  plane/'  and  witnessed  the  passage  of 
a  loaded  boat  up  and  down  the  incline,  and  into  the  level 
at  its  head  and  foot.  The  Committee  being  satisfied  with 
the  operation  of  the  machinery,  and  the  solidity  as  well  as 
the  durability  of  the  whole  work,  and  feeling  confident 
that  it  will  realize  in  practice  the  most  sanguine  expecta- 
tions, beg  to  offer  their  congratulations  to  the  Board  upon 
the  happy  result  of  the  experiment." 

The  "  Newark  Eagle  "  thus  describes  this  opening  of  the 
work :  i '  The  machinery  was  set  in  motion  under  the 
direction  of  Major  Douglass,  the  enterprising  Engineer. 
The  boat,  with  two  hundred  persons  on  board,  rose  majes- 
tically out  of  the  water  ;  in  one  minute  it  was  upon  the 
summit,  which  it  passed  'apparently  with  all  the  ease  that 
a  ship  would  cross  a  wave  of  the  .sea.  As  the  forward 
wheels  of  the  car  commenced  their  descent,  the  boat 
seemed  gently  to  bow  to  the  spectators  and  the  town  be- 
low, then  glided  quickly  down  the  wooden  way.  In  six 
minutes  and  thirty  seconds  it  descended  from  the  summit 
and  re-entered  the  canal,  thus  passing  a  plane  one  thou- 
sand and  forty  feet  long,  with  a  descent  of  seventy  feet, 
arid  advancing  seven  hundred  and  seventy  feet,  in  six  and 
one  half  minutes." 

In  conjunction  with  his  duties  upon  the  Morris  Canal, 


208  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

which  was  completed  and  ready  for  the  opening  of  navi- 
gation in  the  spring  of  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-two, 
Major  Douglass  made  a  reconnoissance  to  ascertain  the 
practicability  of  uniting  the  city  of  Pittsburgh  with  the 
Ohio  Canal  by  railroad.  The  Philadelphia,  Germantown 
and  Norristown  Railroad  also  occupied  a  portion  of  his 
attention. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-two  he  entered  the  New 
York  University,  its  first  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy; 
but,  finding  his  Professorship  to  interfere  with  his  engi- 
neering pursuits,  he  relinquished  this  position  after  one 
year's  duty,  but  was  borne  on  the  roll  of  the  Institution 
as  Professor  of  Civil  Engineering  and  Architecture,  and, 
during  the  years  of  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-six  and 
thirty-seven,  delivered  a  course  of  eighty  lectures  on  these 
subjects. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-three  he  was  called 
upon  to  survey  the  route  for  the  Brooklyn  and  Jamaica 
Railroad  on  Long  Island,  which  he  completed  in  the 
winter  of  that  year. 

An  Act  was  passed  by  the  New  York  Legislature, 
February,  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-three,  authorizing 
surveys  and  estimates  for  supplying  the  city  of  New  York 
with  water.  Immediately  after  the  passage  of  this  Act, 
the  Board  of  Water  Commissioners  appointed  Major 
Douglass  and  Canvass  White,  Engineers.  But  the  profes- 
sional duties  of  Mr.  White  in  the  State  of  New  Jersey 
preventing  him  from  making  the  examinations  desired  by 
the  Commissioners,  the  whole  duty  devolved  upon  Major 
Douglass,  who  completed  the  preliminary  surveys,  in 


MAJOR  DAVID  BATES  DOUGLASS.  209 

November  of  that  year,  and  made  his  report  soon  there- 
after ;  regarding  which  the  Commissioners,  in  their  report 
of  November,  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-three,  say  : 

"For  a  more  particular  and  detailed  description  of  the 
surveys  and  other  important  information  on  the  subject, 
the  Commissioners  beg  leave  to  refer  to  the  able  and  lucid 
report  of  the  Engineer,  Major  D.  B.  Douglass,  hereunto 
annexed.'7 

In  the  report  referred  to,  Major  Douglass  recommended 
the  use  of  the  Croton  river  and  its  tributaries,  to  be  con- 
veyed to  the  city  by  an  enclosed  stone  aqueduct,  and  esti- 
mated the  length  of  the  same  from  the  confluence  to  the 
Receiving  Reservoir  at  Manhattan ville,  at  thirty-seven 
miles,  and  from  the  latter  to  the  Distributing  Reservoir,  five 
and  one  half  miles.  The  report  states  that  ' '  the  structure 
of  masonry  has  been  adopted  instead  of  iron  pipes,  on  the 
ground  of  its  superiority  in  point  of  economy,  durability 
and  efficiency."  Also,  "  the  crossing  of  the  Harlem  river 
is  proposed  to  be  effected  by  means  of  an  aqueduct  bridge, 
eleven  hundred  and  eighty  feet  long  from  abutment  to 
abutment,  consisting  of  nine  semi-circular  arches.  The 
height  of  the  structure,  from  the  water-line  of  the  river  to 
the  water-line  of  the  aqueduct,  would  be  one  hundred  and 
twenty-six  feet,  exclusive  of  the  hydraulic  foundations, 
which  would  be  from  ten  to  twenty  feet  more.  A  structure 
adapted  to  these  dimensions  would,  of  course,  be  a  work  of 
considerable  labor  and  expense,  but  by  no  means  of  para- 
mount difficulty  in  either  respects." 

A  feasible  and  durable  plan  for  supplying  the  city  of 
New  York  with  pure  water  in  abundance  for  not  only  its 


210  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

population  at  the  time,  but  for  the  anticipated  rapid  in- 
crease in  the  future,  had,  since  the  year  eighteen  hundred 
and  twenty,  agitated  the  public  mind,  and  various  methods 
had  been  devised,  and  plans  reported  upon,  none  of  which 
to  this  period,  proved  acceptable  to  the  citizens. 

Major  Douglass  at  once  comprehended  the  importance 
of  the  undertaking,  both  as  to  the  health  and  its  bearing 
upon  the  future  growth  of  the  city,  and  earnestly  devoted 
himself  to  the  successful  accomplishment  of  the  work. 

The  first  investigations  were  directed  to  finding  an 
abundant  and  unfailing  supply  of  pure,  wholesome  water, 
and  at  an  elevation  that  would  allow  of  its  flow  into  the 
city  by  its  own  gravitation,  and  with  a  head  that  would 
supply  the  upper  stories  of  the  buildings,  and  that  could 
be  used  from  the  hydrant  for  the  extinguishment  of 
fires. 

With  these  purposes  in  view  Major  Douglass  commen- 
ced his  explorations  and  surveys  in  May,  eighteen  hundred 
and  thirty-three,  and  in  the  following  month  he  reported 
examinations  of  ' '  all  the  chief  tributaries  of  the  Croton 
river  and  several  of  the  remarkable  reservoirs  from  which 
they  derive  their  supply  ;  generalizing  meanwhile  the 
slope  of  the  left  bank  with  reference  to  the  various  routes 
of  exit  in  the  direction  of  the  city.  This  is  indeed  a 
wonderful  country  for  water,  whether  we  regard  the 
abundance  or  the  purity  of  its  fountains  ;  and  the  inter- 
vening obstacles  appear  less  formidable  than  I  had  sup- 
posed them  to  be." 

On  the  completion  of  the  preliminary  surveys  and 
an  estimate  of  cost,  Major  Douglass  submitted  a  report  to 


MAJOR  DAVID  BATES  DOUGLASS.  211 

the  Board  of  Commissioners,  and  the  feasibility  of  the 
plan  was  so  clearly  shown,  that  the  sanction  of  the  Legis- 
lature was  readily  obtained  in  an  Act  of  May,  eighteen 
hundred  and  thirty-four,  for  proceeding  with  the  construc- 
tion of  the  work.  Douglass  was  appointed  by  the  Commis- 
sioners Chief  Engineer. 

As  early  as  October,  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-five, 
the  surveys  necessary  for  the  location  of  the  Croton  Dam 
were  completed,  but,  in  opposition  to  the  judgment  of  the 
Chief  Engineer,  the  Commissioners  changed  the  location 
to  Garretson's  Mill,  with  a  graduation  of  forty  feet  as  its 
height. 

Throughout  his  term  of  service  Major  Douglass  found 
great  difficulty  in  maintaining  proper  discipline  in  his 
corps  of  engineers,  from  the  limited  power  with  which 
the  Commissioners  invested  him.  They  were  unwilling  to 
admit  the  necessity  of  an  Engineering  Department,  and 
while  Major  Douglass  fully  realized  the  magnitude  of  the 
undertaking,  the  Board  regarded  it  as  little  more  than  an 
extended  job  of  plain  masonry,  that  might  easily  be  con- 
structed upon  very  economical  principles. 

There  existed  widely  different  views  of  economy  and 
discipline  between  the  first  Board  of  Commissioners  and 
the  Chief  Engineer,  which  finally  led  to  a  change  that  was 
universally  regretted  by  the  numerous  friends  of  Major 
Douglass.  In  October,  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-six, 
he  was  removed  from  the  charge  which  his  experience  and 
high  scientific  attainments  so  ably  qualified  him  to  prose- 
cute to  completion.  His  surveys,  plans,  drawings  and 
reports  were  submitted  to  the  Board,  and  by  them 


212  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

adopted,  and  the  construction  of  the   work  passed  into 
other  hands. 

The  various  surmises  and  rumors  consequent  upon  the 
abrupt  and  unexpected  discharge  of  Major  Douglass  by 
the  Board  of  Commissioners,  in  many  instances  prejudicial 
to  his  reputation,  and  from  which  he  would  not  undertake 
to  exonerate  himself,  although  urged  by  several  members  of 
the  Board  to  do  so,  is  fully  explained  in  the  following 
letter  to  one  of  the  Commissioners,  in  eighteen  hundred 
and  forty  : 

"In  addressing  a  few  lines  to  you  on  the  subject  of  the 
unpleasant  controversy  which  occurred  in  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  thirty-five  and  six,  I  cannot  think  it  will  be 
necessary  to  say  much  in  the  way  of  vindicating  myself. 
You  did  not  indeed  witness  but  a  very  small  portion  of  the 
violence  and  overbearing  of  Mr.  Allen's  conduct  to  me, 
but  enough  must  have  been  seen  to  assure  you  that  it  was 
wholly  as  involuntary  as  it  certainly  was  free  from  person- 
ality on  my  part.  Should  you  have  any  doubts  on  this 
point,  they  cannot  but  be  removed  when  I  assure  you  that 
painful  as  the  controversy  was  in  itself,  and  disastrous  as 
the  consequences  have  been  to  me  to  be  thus  thrown  out  of 
employment  suddenly  and  unexpectedly,  at  a  time  when 
all  other  resources  were  unavailable;  to  have  a  great  work, 
the  only  one  which  I  had  thought  worthy  of  my  ambition, 
taken  out  of  my  hands  after  being  matured  in  all  its  most 
difficult  features;  my  professional  character — the  capital 
on  which  I  and  many  others  depend  for  our  daily  bread — 
assailed, — to  have  experienced  all  this  at  the  hands  of  Mr. 
Allen,  while  my  friends  were  importuning  me  to  write, 


MAJOR  DAVID  BATES  DOUGLASS.  213 

and  members  of  the  Common  Council  urging  me  to  fur- 
nish statements,  yet  I  resisted  all  influences,  and  published 
not  a  line. 

"It  would  have  been  very  easy  to  show  the  unsound- 
ness  of  every  allegation  brought  against  me,  either  in  the 
Commissioners,  report  or  in  the  papers,  from  eighteen 
hundred  and  thirty-five  to  the  present  time.  I  pledge  my- 
self to  do  this  for  you,  or  for  the  new  Board,  whenever  you 
or  they  may  desire  it ;  but  I  abstain  from  doing  it  before 
the  public,  simply  because  I  resolved  that  no  consideration 
of  a  personal  kind  should  induce  me  to  do  anything  to 
disturb  or  interrupt  the  progress  of  the  great  work.  Let 
me  beg  you  to  consider  the  exceeding  injustice  of  the 
assertion  often  made  by  Mr.  Alleys  and  Mr.  Allen,  that  I 
had  been  a  partisan  in  opposition  to  the  Water  Commis- 
sioners. Had  I  been  such  a  partisan  these  gentlemen 
would  have  heard  from  me  in  different  style,  but  I  have 
not  been." 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-seven  and  thirty-eight 
Major  Douglass  made -an  examination  and  report  on  the 
hydraulic  power  of  the  Monmouth  Purchase,  also  a  recon- 
noissance  of  the  coal  region  of  the  Upper  Potomac,  and 
from  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-seven  to  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  forty,  he  was  occupied  in  laying  out  the  grounds 
of  Greenwood  Cemetery.  This  beautiful  locality  was 
observed  by  him  as  highly  appropriate  to  such  a  purpose 
while  engaged  in  the  construction  of  the  Brooklyn  and 
Jamaica  .Railroad.  These  surveys,  although  they  had  no 
reference  originally  to  this  object,  were  incidentally  applied 
to  it  in  public  lectures,  which  he  was  called  upon  to  deliver 


214  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

in  Brooklyn,  about  the  period  of  eighteen  hundred  and 
thirty-five.  The  original  cemetery  comprised  only  one 
hundred  and  seventy-eight  acres,  the  ground  declining  in 
some  places  to  valleys  of  less  than  twenty  feet  above  tide  ; 
water,  and  in  others  rising  to  hills  of  more  than  two  hun- 
dred feet.  Mount  Washington  is  two  hundred  and  sixteen 
feet,  being  the  most  elevated  ground  in  Kings  County,  and 
one  of  the  highest  points  on  Long  Island.  A  heavy 
native  growth  of  fine  old  forest  trees  suggested  the  name 
of  "  Greenwood  "  as  appropriate  for  this  cemetery.  The 
artistic  skill  and  classic  taste  of  Major  Douglass  is  beauti- 
fully illustrated  in  the  laying  out  of  this  quiet  and  roman- 
tic home  for  the  dead. 

It  contains  four  hundred  and  thirteen  acres  of  hill  and 
dale.  Mount  Auburn  is  beautiful,  Laurel  Hill  has  its 
charms,  but  none  of  the  cemeteries  of  the  country  can 
compare  with  Greenwood  in  the  wonderful  grandeur  of  its 
views,  its  variety  of  landscape,  and  its  extent.  The  ave- 
nues extend  for  nearly  twenty-five  miles,  and  it  has  several 
hundred  miles  of  walks  and  paths  within  its  enclosure. 

From  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-nine  about  five  mil- 
lion dollars  have  been  received,  and  nearly  all  of  it  ex- 
pended on  improvements.  To  grade  the  grounds,  and  lay 
out  the  avenues  and  walks,  was  an  immense  work,  and  it 
has  continued  through  many  years,  not  being  entirely 
completed  even  now. 

The  principal  entrance  to  Greenwood  is  on  Fifth  avenue, 
South  Brooklyn  ;  the  gateway  is  a  magnificent  and  costly 
structure  of  Gothic  form,  and  constructed  of  the  finest 
brown  sandstone.  It  is  very  large,  and  presents  an  im- 


MAJOR  DAVID  BATES  DOUGLASS.  215 

posing  and  massive  appearance.    This  gateway  is  probably 
the  finest  piece  of  architecture  of  its  kind  in  this  country. 

In  his  letter  of  resignation  to  the  Board  of  Trustees  of 
Greenwood  Cemetery,  of  which  he  was  President,  ten- 
dered in  January,  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-one,  Major 
Douglass  remarked  :  "The  local  organization  and  the  lay- 
ing out  of  the  grounds  is  now  essentially  completed.  To 
have  left  this  in  an  imperfect  or  unfinished  state  would 
have  incurred  the  loss  of  much  previous  labor.  I  have 
felt  it  imperative,  therefore,  to  remain  in  office  at  all 
hazards  until  it  was  finished.  It  has  been  a  work  of  much 
greater  labor  than  I  supposed  when  I  commenced  it.  The 
extent  as  well  as  the  varied  features  of  the  ground  have 
called  for  long-continued,  oft-repeated,  and  very  careful 
study  ;  and  this  I  have  given  it,  but  with  what  effect  can- 
not be  seen  until  the  design  shall  have  been  in  some  de- 
gree carried  out  by  the  opening  of  the  avenues." 

The  immediate  cause  of  Major  Douglass's  resignation 
was  his  acceptance  of  a  call  to  the  Presidency  of  Kenyon 
College,  in  Ohio.  Before  leaving  for  his  new  charge,  he 
submitted  the  plans  and  drawings  for  the  improvement  of 
the  cemetery  grounds  to  the  Board.  Mr.  J.  A.  Perry,  of 
Brooklyn,  writing  to  him  upon  the  subject  a  year  subse- 
quently, observed  : 

"Anything  about  Greenwood,  and  especially  its  long 
desired  success,  would  not  be  an  uninteresting  theme  to 
its  old  and  faithful  friend.  "We  are  now  opening  our  ave- 
nues through  the  forests,  and  they  open  most  beautifully. 
Having,  providentially  it  would  seem,  nothing  to  occupy 
my  time  since  March  last,  I  have  devoted  it  all  to  Green- 


216  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

wood,  and  delightful  work,  now  that  it  is  crowned  with 
success,  has  it  been.  In  June  we  propose  to  consecrate 
our  grounds.  It  is  but  meet  that  one  who  has  contrib- 
uted so  greatly  to  the  establishment,  and  developed  so 
admirably  the  beauties  of  Greenwood,  as  we  delight  in 
thinking  you  have  done,  should  participate  in  the  cere- 
monies of  that  occasion.  Can  you  not  be  with  us  ?  " 
Major  Douglass  replied  as  follows  : 

"Believe  me,  you  could  not  have  done  me  a  greater 
favor  than  in  thus  communicating  the  future  brightness  of 
Greenwood.  My  own  associations  with  it  are  as  fondly 
cherished,  and  all  my  recollections  of  it  are  as  fresh  as 
ever.  How  delighted  would  I  be  could  I  promise  myself, 
with  any  degree  of  assurance,  the  pleasure  you  hold  up  to 
my  view  so  temptingly,  of  joining  with  you  in  the  ap- 
proaching consecration  ;  but  I  fear  it  is  impossible. 

"  I  can  realize  how  delightful  a  relief  the  Green- 
wood improvements  must  be  to  your  mind.  Pressed  and 
borne  down  as  I  frequently  was  while  there  engaged,  its 
associations  were  always  vivifying  and  gladdening  to  me. 
Its  deep  shades  and  quiet  retreats,  its  old  oaks  and  green 
cedars,  the  umber  foliage  during  its  Indian  summer,  the 
setting  sun.  from  Mount  Washington,  its  breezes  and  its 
flocks  of  birds,  every  thing  about  it  was  unlike  any  thing 
else  in  this  world.  I  yearn  to  see  them  again.  Indeed, 
every  thing  about  Brooklyn  continues  to  interest  me  as 
much  as  ever.  No  lapse  of  time  can  efface  the  smallest  of 
the  recollections  by  which  it  is  endeared  to  me." 

The  following  letter  from  Professor  Olmstead,  of  Yale 
College,  to  Rev.  Malcolm  Douglass,  indicates  the  feelings 


MAJOR  DAVID  BATES  DOUGLASS.  217 

of  those  with  whom  Major  Douglass  was  early  associated, 
and  the  deep  interest  his  class-mates  manifested  in  his 
subsequent  varied  and  brilliant  career  : 

"  I  send  herewith  the  interesting  letter  addressed  by 
your  honored  father  to  his  class-mates  at  their  thirty 
years'  meeting,  in  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-three.  It 
was  read  in  the  meeting  and  listened  to  with  lively  inter- 
est, but  with  deep  regret  that  the  writer  could  not  make 
one  of  our  most  delightful  party.  Professor  Douglass 
was  justly  regarded  as  a  member  who  had  done  great 
honor  to  his  class,  by  his  gallantry  in  the  service  of  his 
country  during  the  war  of  eighteen  hundred  and  twelve, 
and  by  his  eminence  as  a  man  of  science,  particularly  by 
the  great  public  works  which  he  projected,  several  of 
which  remain  as  durable  monuments  of  his  genius  and 
skill." 

Major  Douglass  continued  his  association  with  Kenyon 
College  until  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-four,  when  he 
returned  to  the  East  and  occupied  his  time  until  eighteen 
hundred  and  forty-eight,  in  the  active  discharge  of  various 
duties,  among  which  were  the  planning  and  laying  out  of 
the  Albany  Rural  and  of  the  Quebec  Cemeteries,  the  sur- 
vey of  the  Albany  Water  Works,  the  drainage  and  gradu- 
ation of  South  Brooklyn,  the  planning  a  supporting  wall 
for  a  portion  of  Brooklyn  Heights,  in  examinations  and 
reports  upon  the  best  method  for  supplying  that  city  with 
water,  and  the  laying  out  of  the  grounds  of  the  New 
Brighton  Association  of  Staten  Island.  In  eighteen  hundred 
and  forty-eight  he  was  called  to  the  chair  of  Mathematics  at 
Geneva  (now  Hobart)  College,  which  he  accepted  al-though 


218  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

other  propositions  were    laid  before  him  with   offers  of 
greater  compensation. 

Major  Douglass  died  at  his  residence  in  Geneva,  New 
York,  October  twenty-first,  eighteen  hundred  and  forty- 
nine,  from  the  effects  of  a  paralytic  stroke,  at  the  age  of 
fifty-nine  years.  His  remains  were  deposited  at  Geneva. 
After  the  lapse  of  little  more  than  twelve  months  they  were 
removed  thence  to  the  Greenwood  Cemetery,  in  answer 
to  a  request  based  upon  the  following  resolution  by  the 
Cemetery  Board,  December  second,  eighteen  hundred  and 
fifty,  as  follows  :  "  Resolved,  that  two  lots  for  the  use  of 
the  family  of  the  late  Major  Douglass  be  designated  by 
the  Standing  Committee,  and  when  the  remains  of  Major 
Douglass  are  deposited  therein,  the  said  Committee  shall 
cause  the  lots  to  be  suitably  enclosed,  and  an  appropriate 
monument  to  the  memory  of  Major  Douglass  erected 
thereon."  His  remains  now  repose  in  that  beautiful 
Necropolis,  to  the  creation  of  which  his  admirable  genius 
so  largely  contributed  No  monument  to  his  memory  has 
yet  been  erected  there.  At  this  period  the  only  perman- 
ent public  memorial  of  his  life  and  of  his  death,  is  to  be 
found  in  the  large  and  richly  stained  monumental  windows 
of  the  South  Aisle  of  Trinity  Church,  Geneva,  upon  which 
is  traced  the  following  inscription:  "  To  the  glory  and 
praise  of  God.  The  children  of  the  late  David  Bates 
Douglass,  filled  with  affection  for  his  memory,  and  with 
devout  gratitude  for  his  paternal  precepts  and  Christian 
example,  erect  this  Memorial  Window.'7 

Major  Douglass  in  stature  was  several  inches  above  the 
medium  height,  slender,  but  finely  proportioned,  with  an 


MAJOR  DAVID  BATES  DOUGLASS.  219 

energetic,  earnest  movement  and  distinguished  military 
presence.  His  features,  without  being  regular  or  hand- 
some, were  strongly  marked  and  striking ;  his  hair  was 
dark,  and  his  eyes  black,  large,  and  restless ;  his  voice 
deep-toned  and  firm.  With  brilliant  conversational  powers 
he  combined  a  manner  of  address  polished,  quiet,  and 
unostentatious.  He  was  a  favorite  of  the  drawing-room 
and  of  the  family  circle.  Religious  in  his  proclivities,  he 
superintended  with  pious  vigilance  the  education  of  his 
family.  His  two  eldest  sons  were  graduates  of  Kenyon 
College.  The  eldest,  Charles  Edward,  was  destined  for 
the  Church.  After  graduating,  he  passed  regularly 
through  the  University  Course  at  Trinity  College,  Cam- 
bridge, England,  with  high  honor,  and  is  now  the  Rector 
of  St.  Stephen's  Church.  Brighton,  England.  The  second 
son,  Andrew  Ellicott,  entered  into  business  in  New  York. 
The  third  son,  Malcolm,  graduated  at  Trinity  College, 
Hartford,  Connecticut,  and  is  now  the  Rector  of  St.  Paul's 
Church,  Windsor,  Yermont.  From  him  many  valuable 
papers  were  obtained  and  used  in  the  preparation  of  this 
imperfect  sketch  of  his  distinguished  and  venerated  father. 
The  fourth  son,  Henry,  after  going  partly  through  a  col- 
lege course,  entered  the  U.  S.  Military  Academy  at  West 
Point,  and  graduated  in  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-one. 
Major  Douglass  also  left  four  daughters. 

One  might  deem  the  years  of  Major  Douglass  compara- 
tively few  in  number  and  his  death  premature,  but  in 
glancing  at  the  leading  events  of  his  life  from  his  early 
graduation  at  Yale  College  to  the  period  of  his  death,  with 
the  reflection  that  within  the  narrow  limits  of  a  biography 


220  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

of  this  nature,  only  the  professional  incidents  could  be 
recorded,  he  had  lived  long  in  useful  mental  exertion. 
Every  hour  had  been  occupied  in  earnest  labor  for  the 
cultivation  of  others,  or  in  plans  for  the  military  defence 
or  public  improvements  of  his  country.  While  Professor 
of  Architecture  of  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York, 
the  University  buildings  were  constructed  from  his  design, 
being  the  first  introduction  into  this  country  of  the  Eliza- 
bethan style. 

The  following  tribute  to  the  peculiar  qualities  of  Major 
Douglass  as  a  teacher,  arid  his  character  as  a  Christian,  is 
from  the  sermon  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hale,  President  of 
Hobart  College,  upon  the  death  of  Major  Douglass,  and, 
coming  from  one  who  was  so  well  qualified  to  judge,  and 
who  had  been  associated  with  him  as  a  teacher  and  neigh- 
bor, gives  it  greater  value  and  force  : 

"  By  the  caste  of  his  mind  and  the  qualities  of  his  heart, 
no  less  than  by  the  extent  of  his  attainments,  he  was 
fitted  to  be  a  teacher.  He  had  a  rare  facility  in  acquiring 
knowledge  and  making  himself  master  of  it  in  all  its 
broadest  principles  and  minutest  details  ;  but  it  seemed  to 
be  his  greatest  pleasure  and  the  peculiar  tendency  of  his 
mind  to  impart  it.  He  loved  books,  but  if  I  may  judge 
from  my  acquaintance  with  him,  which  was  intimate,  he 
was  less  a  reader  than  a  thinker.  He  looked  reverently 
upon  books — books  which  he  desired  and  sought — and  read 
them,  not  for  amusement,  but  a  serious  occupation  for  the 
nourishment  of  his  mind  and  heart.  He  read,  therefore, 
not  superficially,  but  intently,  as  he  would  have  listened  to 
the  voice  of  a  teacher  in  answer  to  earnest  and  important 


MAJOR  DAVID  BATES  DOUGLASS.  221 

inquiries.  He  possessed  great  powers  of  analysis,  which 
he  exercised,  not  in  a  captious  or  doubting  spirit,  but  that 
he  might  better  know  and  form  the  material  whereon  to 
exercise  that  faculty  of  his  intellect,  which  was  more 
peculiarly  his  characteristic,  the  constructive  talent. 
Hence  whatever  he  knew,  he  knew  thoroughly  and  system- 
atically. Hence  his  views,  his  opinions,  his  aims,  were  all 
definite.  Hence  the  depth  and  clearness  of  his  instruction. 
Hence  in  conversation  he  was  still  the  teacher,  and  with- 
out any  of  the  forms  of  argument,  his  discourse,  clear  in  its 
own  light,  was  full  of  information." 


JONATHAN   KNIGHT 

SURVEYOR  AND  CIVIL  ENGINEER. 


THE  name  of  Jonathan  Knight,  associated  as  it  is 
with  the  first  important  American  railroad,  of  which 
he  was  the  first  Chief  Engineer  for  a  period  of  twelve 
years,  must  ever  be  regarded  with  interest  by  American 
Engineers. 

Jonathan  Knight,  the  son  of  Abel  Knight  and  Ann  S. 
Knight,  was  born  in  Bucks  County,  Pennsylvania,  on  the 
twenty-second  day  of  November,  seventeen  hundred  and 
eighty-seven.  His  father  was  a  weaver  by  trade,  but 
could  survey  land  and  teach  school.  He  removed  his 
family  in  eighteen  hundred  and  one  into  the  town  of  East 
Bethlehem,  Washington  County,  where  Jonathan  resided 
until  his  death. 

In  early  life  the  limited  means  of  his  father  did  not  per- 
mit of  his  being  educated  in  an  academy  or  college;  his 
facilities  for  instruction  were  necessarily  confined  to  the 
ordinary  primary  schools  then  in  the  country.  He  was 
required  by  his  father  to  be  very  industrious  when  quite 
young,  and  his  unquenchable  thirst  for  knowledge  im- 
pelled him  to  read  and  study  at  home,  mostly  at  night, 
thus  acquiring  a  habit  of  close  application  to  work  and 

222 


JONATHAN  KNIGHT.  223 

study,  and  laying  the  foundation  of  a  good  American  edu- 
cation. 

He  early  showed  a  peculiar  talent  for  the  exact  sciences 
and  mathematics,  and  at  the  age  of  twelve  years  had 
worked  Dilworth's  Arithmetic  through,  and  set  the  result 
down  in  a  blank  book.  Soon  after  commencing  with  this 
Arithmetic,  he  was  looking  forward  in  the  book,  and  dis- 
covered the  process  of  extracting  the  square  root,  and  so 
told  his  father,  who  hesitated  to  believe  it;  but  he  satisfied 
him  by  immediately  working  a  number  of  examples. 
After  this  he  needed  but  little  instruction  as  he  advanced 
in  the  science  of  numbers. 

He  studied  surveying  with  his  father,  and  when  he  was 
eighteen  years  of  age  he  obtained  Bonnycastle's  Algebra, 
and  studied  it  successfully  into  quadratic  equations.  At  this 
time  he  had  never  seen  a  person  who  understood  algebra. 
During  the  next  year,  being  informed  of  a  teacher  who 
was  teaching  algebra  in  a  neighboring  town  he  went  there, 
and  received  lessons  in  this  branch  for  three  or  four  months, 
which  was  the  extent  of  his  schooling  in  mathematics. 
About  this  time  he  cultivated  the  habit  of  solving  ques- 
tions or  problems  mentally,  when  engaged  in  working  on 
his  father's  farm,  or  in  drawing  fire-wood  home  in  the 
winter.  Upon  starting  to  the  woods  for  a  load  he  would 
read  a  question,  and  when  he  returned  and  unloaded  his 
sleigh,  he  would  go  into  the  house  to  warm,  and  while 
there  set  the  solution  down,  and  read  another  question, 
then  start  to  the  woods  again,  and  so  continue.  He  was 
in  the  habit,  at  an  early  age,  upon  entering  a  building 
that  was  being  erected,  of  obtaining  its  dimensions,  and 


224  CIYIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

then  proceed  to  estimate  the  quantity  of  materials  used  in 
the  construction  ;  if  brick,  the  number  of  them,  and  even 
the  number  of  nails  and  shingles  used. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  nine  he  married  Ann  Heston, 
in  a  meeting  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  in  accordance  with 
their  Order,  and  continued  during  his  life  in  the  fellowship 
of  that  Society.  • 

When  twenty-one  years  of  age,  Jonathan  commenced 
teaching  school  and  surveying  land  on  his  own  account, 
which  occupation  he  pursued  until  the  spring  of  eighteen 
hundred  and  fifteen,  when  he  purchased  some  land,  intend- 
ing to  devote  his  time  to  farming  and  surveying.  His 
engagements  for  surveying  land  became  so  numerous  that 
he  found  very  little  time  to  attend  to  his  farm.  And  the 
next  year  (eighteen  hundred  and  sixteen)  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  State  Government  of  Pennsylvania  to  make 
the  surveys  and  a  map  of  Washington  County,  in  order  to 
facilitate  the  forming  of  Melish's  map  of  the  State.  This 
duty  involved  much  field  labor,  the  instrumental  survey- 
ing requiring  one  hundred  days'  work  in  its  performance. 
This  service  having  been  satisfactorily  performed,  Mr. 
Knight  served  three  years  as  County  Commissioner,  to 
which  office  he  was  elected  by  the  people. 

Soon  after,  he  entered  upon  civil  engineering,  having 
served  in  subordinate  stations  in  the  preliminary  surveys 
of  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Canal,  and  in  those  for  the 
National  Road  between  Cumberland  and  Wheeling.  He 
was  appointed,  in  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-five,  by 
the  Federal  Government,  a  Commissioner  to  extend  that 
road  from  Wheeling,  through  the  States  of  Ohio  and 
Indiana,  to  Illinois. 


JONATHAN  KNIGHT.  225 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-two  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  and  served  in 
the  House  of  Representatives,  and  in  the  Senate  for  six 
consecutive  sessions. 

Immediately  after  the  organization  of  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Railroad  Company,  in  April,  eighteen  hundred  and 
twenty-seven,  Jonathan  Knight  and  Colonel  Stephen  H. 
Long  were  selected  by  the  Board  of  Directors  to  make  the 
necessary  surveys  of  the  country  through  which  the  road 
was  to  pass.  The  Government  of  the  United  States,  justly 
appreciating  the  importance  of  the  enterprise,  also  ex- 
tended to  it  a  most  liberal  patronage.  Several  able  and 
efficient  members  of  the  Topographical  Corps  were  detailed 
to  the  service  of  the  Company,  among  whom  were  Captain 
William  Gibbs  McNeill,  Lieutenants  Joshua  Barney,  Isaac 
Trimble,  Richard  E.  Hazard,  William  Cook,  Walter  Gwynn, 
and  John  L.  Dillahunty,  of  the  United  States  Army,  and 
William  Harrison,  Jr.,  Assistant  Engineer,  who  proceeded 
to  examine  the  various  routes  from  the  city  of  Baltimore 
to  the  valley  of  the » Potomac ,  and  along  that  river  and 
valley  to  Cumberland,  and  from  thence  to  a  general  re- 
connoissance  of  the  country  between  the  Potomac  and 
the  Ohio  river.  Messrs.  Knight  and  Long,  on  the  fifth  of 
April,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-eight,  made  an  able 
report,  accompanied  by  statements  of  the  officers  detailed 
by  the  Government,  recommending  what  they  deemed  to 
be  the  most  practicable  route. 

These  reports  having  been  carefully  examined  by  the 
Board  of  Directors,  President  Philip  E.  Thomas  reported 
to  the  stockholders  that  the  preliminary  examinations  had 


226 


CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 


resulted  in  a  conviction  of  the  entire  practicability  of  a 
railroad  from  Baltimore  to  the  Ohio  river,  and  that  "  they 
were  convinced  that  of  the  various  routes  which  had  been 
suggested,  the  one  along  the  valley  of  the  Patapsco,  and 
thence  in  the  direction  of  Linganore  Creek,  to  the  Point 
of  Rocks,  was  so  decidedly  preferable  as  to  preclude  any 
hesitation  in  awarding  it  the  preference." 

The  construction  of  the  road  was  commenced  on  the 
fourth  of  July,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-eight,  and 
the  event  was  celebrated  with  great  ceremony.  The  first 
stone  was  laid  by  the  venerable  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carroll- 
ton,  then  over  ninety  years  of  age,  on  the  south-west  line 
of  the  city.  In  the  month  of  August  following,  the  loca- 
tion of  the  line,  adopted  by  the  Directors,  having  been 
effected  and  unanimously  approved  by  the  Board  of  Engi- 
neers, contracts  were  entered  into  for  the  grading  and 
masonry  of  fourteen  miles,  between  the  city  and  Ellicott's 
Mills,  on  the  Patapsco.  On  this  section  of  the  road  is  the 
11  Carrollton  Viaduct,"  a  fine  structure  of  dressed  granite, 
with  an  arch  of  eighty  feet  span,  over  Gwynn's  Falls,  near 
the  city. 


CARROLLTON  VIADUCT. 


JONATHAN  KNIGHT.  227 

A  few  miles  further  on  a  deep  cut  was  required — famous 
for  the  difficulties  it  presented  in  the  early  history  of  this 
road— seventy-six  feet  in  extreme  depth  and  nearly  half  a 
mile  in  length.  The  traces  of  the  slides  and  gullies  of 
over  forty  years  are  to  be  seen  upon  its  furrowed  sides, 
tinted  with  various  ochrous  colors  of  the  richest  hue. 
Eight  miles  from  Baltimore,  the  open  country  of  sand  and 
clay  ends,  and  the  region  of  rock  begins  at  the  entrance  to 
the  gorge  of  the  Patapsco  river.  At  this  point  is  the 
"Thomas  Yiaduct,"  a  noble  granite  structure  of  eight 
elliptical  arches,  each  of  about  sixty  feet  chord,  spanning 
the  stream  at  a  height  of  sixty-six  feet  above  its  bed,  and 
of  a  total  length  of  seven  hundred  feet.  This  bridge  is  on 
the  Washington  branch  road,  which  departs  from  the 
main  line  at  this  place.  Three  miles  from  the  Relay  House, 
on  the  main  road,  is  the  "Patterson  Yiaduct,"  a  fine 
granite  work  of  two  arches  of  fifty-five  feet,  and  two  of 
twenty  feet  span  over  the  river,  at  a  very  rugged  part  of 
the  ravine. 

At  Ellicott's  Mills,  the  Frederick  Turnpike  is  crossed 
by  the  railroad  upon  the  "  Oliver  Viaduct,"  a  handsome 
stone  bridge  of  three  arches  of  twenty  feet  span.  The 
road  was  completed  to  this  point  and  opened  for  travel 
on  the  twenty-fourth  of  May,  eighteen  hundred  and 
thirty.  Those  who  had  doubted  the  utility  of  the  enter- 
prise became  its  advocates  and  supporters,  the  whole 
country  was  satisfied,  and  railroads  were  commenced  in 
other  States  on  the  result  of  this  experiment.  The  follow- 
ing interesting  account  of  the  early  history  of  this  pioneer 
improvement,  and  the  motive  power  used  upon  it,  is 


228  CIYIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

copied  from  an  interesting  lecture  of  the  Hon.  John  H.  B. 
Latrobe,  the  distinguished  legal  counsellor  of  the  Com- 
pany, delivered  in  Baltimore,  in  eighteen  hundred  and 
sixty-eight : 

"It  is  amusing,  with  the  knowledge  we  now  have  of 
such  things,  to  look  back  to  the  fancies  of  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  and  six.  In  the  latter  year  a  suffi- 
cient feeling  had  been  gotten  up  to  justify  a  town  meeting 
on  the  subject  of  Western  communications.  A  committee 
was  appointed,  resolutions  were  adopted,  a  charter, 
modelled  mainly  on  the  old  turnpike  charters,  was  pre- 
pared, the  Legislature  was  applied  to  successfully,  and,  in 
March,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-seven^  the  first  railroad 
company  in  the  United  States  for  general  purposes  of  trans- 
portation was  launched  into  existence,  with  a  capital  of  one 
and  a  half  million  dollars,  with  liberty  to  increase  it,  and 
the  city  of  Baltimore  and  the  State  of  Maryland  were 
authorized  to  subscribe  to  the  stock. 

Then  came  a  scene  which  almost  beggars  description. 
By  this  time  public  excitement  had  gone  far  beyond  fever 
heat,  and  reached  the  boiling  point.  Everybody  wanted 
stock.  The  number  of  subscribers  were  to  be  apportioned  if 
the  limit  of  the  capital  should  be  exceeded,  and  every  one 
set  about  obtaining  proxies.  Parents  subscribed  in  the 
names  of  their  children,  and  paid  the  dollar  on  each  share 
that  the  rules  prescribed.  Before  a  survey  had  been  made 
— before  common  sense  had  been  consulted  even,  the 
possession  of  stock  in  any  quantity  was  regarded  as  a  pro- 
vision for  old  age,  and  great  was  the  scrabble  to  obtain  it. 
The  excitement  in  Baltimore  roused  public  attention  else- 


JONATHAN  KNIGHT.  229 

where,  and  a  railroad  mania  began  to  pervade  the  land. 
But  Baltimore  led  all  the  rest  ;  there  can  be  no  doubts 
of  that. 

"Then  came  the  surveys.  The  greatest  work  in  the 
country  in  those  days  was  the  National  Road  from  Wash- 
ington city  to  Wheeling,  and  its  Chief  Engineer,  Jonathan 
Knight,  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  a  profound 
mathematician,  and  an  honest  and  able  man,  was  brought 
into  the  service  of  the  new  Company.  Along  with  him 
came  his  Superintendent  of  Construction,  Mr.  Weaver,  who. 
had  built  miles  and  miles  of  turnpike  in  Ohio.  They  came 
from  a  sandstone  country,  where  rocks  could  be  cut  like 
cheese  almost,  to  win  a  pretty  costly  experience  in  the 
granite  districts  of  Maryland.  To  these  were  added  engi- 
neers from  the  United  States  Army,  who  brought  West 
Point  to  bear  upon  the  road.  A  mission  of  engineers 
were  sent  to  England  while  the  surveys  were  going 
on  at  home.  Every  thing  was  done  with  an  eager 
enthusiasm  that  was  unexampled  even  in  our  enterprising 
annals. 

*;  In  the  beginning,  no  one  dreamed  of  steam  upon  the 
road.  Horses  were  to  do  the  work  ;  and  even  after  the 
line  was  completed  to  Frederick,  relays  of  horses  trotted 
the  cars  from  place  to  place.  In  this,  the  Relay  House,  at 
the  junction  of  the  Washington  branch,  obtained  its  name. 
One  great  desideratum  was  to  reduce  the  friction  of  the 
axles  in  their  boxes,  and  about  this  time  Mr.  Ross  Winans 
made  his  appearance  in  Baltimore,  and  instantly  became  a 
celebrity,  with  his  friction  wheel,  unquestionably  an  in- 
genious and  beautiful  contrivance. 


230  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

u  The  town  went  wild  with  '  the  Winans  friction  wheel/ 
and  the  speaker  remembers  well,  as  though  it  were  but 
yesterday,  seeing  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton,  who  was 
the  great  man  on  all  great  occasions  in  Baltimore,  seated 
on  a  little  car  in  one  of  the  upper  rooms  of  the  Exchange, 
and  being  drawn  by  a  ridiculously  small  weight  attached 
to  a  string  passed  over  a  pulley  and  dropping  into  the 
hall  below.  Around  him  were  all  the  prominent  men  in 
Baltimore,  and  all  were  as  much  pleased  as  children 
with  a  new  toy.  In  fact,  there  was  a  verdant  freshness 
about  railroad  things  in  those  days  that  it  is  wonderful  to 
recollect. 

And  yet  the  Company,  stumbling  along,  with  many  a 
fall  and  many  a  bruise,  made  headway  notwithstanding, 
and  gave  to  the  Companies  fast  multiplying  in  all  direc- 
tions the  benefit  of  its  experience.  Nothing  was  more 
sought  after  by  engineers  than  the  Company's  reports. 
With  a  great  deal  now  useless  there  was  mixed  a  great 
deal  of  scientific  and  mathematical  information.  Accurate 
tables  for  the  location  of  curves,  for  estimating  quantities, 
for  regulating  grades,  were  to  be  found  there.  The  Com- 
pany's very  errors  imparted  lessons  of  wisdom.  What 
now  seems  simple  was  then  abstruse,  and  it  was  only  nat- 
ural that  the  managers  of  new  works  should  resort  to  the 
first  railroad  which  had  arrived  at  practical  results  in  the 
United  States,  for  information. 

"  When  steam  made  its  appearance  on  the  Liverpool 
and  Manchester  Railroad  it  attracted  great  attention  here. 
But  there  was  this  difficulty  about  introducing  an  English 
engine  on  an  American  road.  An  English  road  was 


JONATHAN  KNIGHT.  231 

virtually  a  straight  road.  An  American  road  had 
curves  sometimes  of  as  small  radius  as  two  hundred  feet. 
There  was  not  capital  enough  in  the  United  States  appli- 
cable to  railroad  purposes,  to  justify  engineers  in  setting 
nature  at  defiance.  If  a  tunnel  through  a  spur  could  be 
saved  by  a  road  around  it,  the  tunnel  was  postponed  and 
the  circuitous  route  adopted,  although  the  distance  was 
increased  in  consequence  ;  so,  if  embankments  could  be 
saved  by  heading  valleys,  in  place  of  crossing  them.  This 
led  to  sharp  curves  here,  where  they  would  have  been 
straight  lines  in  England.  No  better  illustration  of  this  is 
to  be  seen  than  near  the  Relay  House,  or  Washington 
Junction  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  where  the 
curve,  as  the  road  turned  into  the  gorge  of  the  Patapsco, 
was  originally  located  with  less  than  three  hundred  feet 
radius,  to  avoid  the  necessity  of  the  cut,  that  has  since 
been  made  through  the  rocky,  northern  jaw  of  the  gorge. 
A  tunnel  is  now  cut  at  the  Point  of  Rocks,  through  the 
hard  intractable  material  which  is  there  met  with,  in  a 
spur  of  the  Catoctin' mountain,. which,  in  the  first  instance, 
the  road  was  located  to  avoid.  For  a  brief  season  it  was 
believed  that  this  feature  of  the  early  American  roads 
would  prevent  the  use  of  locomotive  engines.  The  con- 
trary was  demonstrated  by  a  gentleman  still  living  in  an 
active  and  ripe  old  age,  honored  and  beloved,  distinguished 
for  his  private  worth  and  for  his  public  benefactions  ;  one 
of  those  to  whom  wealth  seems  to  have  been  granted  by 
Providence  that  men  might  know  how  wealth  could  be 
used  to  benefit  one's  fellow-creatures.  The  speaker  refers 
to  Mr.  Peter  Cooper,  of  New  York.  Mr.  Cooper  was 


232  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

satisfied  that  steam  might  be  adapted  to  the  curved  roads 
which  he  saw  would  be  built  in  the  United  States,  and  he 
came  to  Baltimore,  which  then  possessed  the  only  one  on 
which  he  could  experiment,  to  vindicate  his  belief.  He 
had  another  idea,  which  was  that  the  crank  could  be  dis- 
pensed with.in  the  change  from  a  reciprocating  to  a  rotary 
motion  ;  and  he  built  an  engine  to  demonstrate  both 
articles  of  his  faith.  The  machine  was  not  larger  than  the 
hand-cars  used  by  workmen  to  transfer  themselves  from 
place  to  place  ;  and,  as  the  speaker  now  recalls  its  appear- 
ance, the  only  wonder  is  that  so  apparently  insignificant 
a  contrivance  should  ever  have  been  regarded  as  compe- 
tent to  the  smallest  results.  But  Mr.  Cooper  was  wiser 
than  many  of  the  wisest  around  him.  .  His  engine  could 
not  have  weighed  a  ton  ;  but  he  saw  in  it  a  principle 
which  the  forty-ton  engines  of  to-day  have  but  served  to 
develop  and  demonstrate. 

"  The  boiler  of  Mr.  Cooper's  engine  was  not  as  large  as 
the  kitchen  boiler  attached  to  many  a  range  in  modern 
mansions.  It  was  of  about  the  same  diameter,  but  not 
much  more  than  half  as  high.  It  stood  upright  in  the  car, 
and  was  filled  above  the  furnace,  which  occupied  the  lower 
section  with  vertical  tubes.  The  cylinder  was  but  three 
and  one  half  inches  in  diameter,  and  speed  was  gotten  up 
by  gearing.  No  natural  draught  could  have  been  suffi- 
cient to  keep  up  steam  in  so  small  a  boiler  ;  and  Mr. 
Cooper  used  therefore  a  blowing  apparatus,  driven  by  a 
drum  attached  to  one  of  the  car  wheels,  over  which  passed 
a  chord  that  in  its  turn  worked  a  pulley  on  the  shaft  of 
the  blower. 


JONATHAN  KNIGHT.  233 

"  And  this  was  the  first  locomotive  for  railroad  purposes 
ever  built  in  America,  and  this  was  the  first  transportation  of 
persons  by  steam  that  had  ever  taken  place  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic. 


FIRST  AMERICAN  LOCOMOTIVE. 


"Mr.  Cooper's  success  was  such  as  to  induce  him  to  try 
a  trip  to  Ellicott's  Mills,  and  an  open  car,  the  first  used 
upon  the  road  already  mentioned,  having  been  attached  to 
his  engine  and  filled  with  the  Directors  and  some  friends, 
the  speaker  among*  the  rest,  the  first  journey  by  steam  in 
America  was  commenced.  The  trip  was  most  interesting. 
The  curves  were  passed  without  difficulty  at  a  speed  of 
fifteen  miles  an  hour  ;  the  grades  were  ascended  with  com- 
parative ease  ;  the  day  was  fine,  the  company  in  the 
highest  spirits,  and  some  excited  gentlemen  of  the  party 
pulled  out  memorandum-books,  and  when  at  the  highest 
speed,  which  was  eighteen  miles  an  hour,  wrote  their  names 
and  some  connected  sentences,  to  prove  that  even  at  that 
great  velocity  it  was  possible  to  do  so.  The  return  trip 
from  the  Mills,  a  distance  of  thirteen  miles,  was  made  in 


234  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

fifty-seven  minutes.     This  was  in  the  summer  of  eighteen 
hundred  and  thirty." 

LETTER   FROM   MR.    LATROBE. 

BALTIMORE,  January  29#i,  1870. 

Genl.  CHARLES  B.  STUART  : 

DEAR  SIR,-  *  *  *  *  * 

I  give  above  all  that  I  recollect  of  the  tout  ensemble  of 
the  first  trips  to  Ellicott's  Mills,  described  in  my  lecture,  to 
which  you  refer. 

It  is  generally  correct  in  the  look  of  the  Cooper  Engine, 
save  that  perhaps  the  boiler  is  larger  than  it  should  be  in 
proportion  to  the  size  of  Mr.  Cooper,  the  Enginemaii  for 
the  occasion.  The  fan  is  shown,  that  was  driven  by  a 
cord  retained  in  a  groove  in  a  wooden  rim  attached  to  the 
wheel.  I  think  the  cylinder  was  upright  and  fastened  to 
the  boiler,  and  that  the  piston  rod  moved  a  cross-head, 
which  had  connecting  rods  that  either  worked  cranks  or  a 
spur  wheel  mashing  into  a  pinion  on  the  axle,  or  was  con- 
nected with  Mr.  Cooper's  contrivance  to  dispense  with  the 
crank  as  a  means  of  converting  the  reciprocating  motion 
of  the  piston  into  a  rotary  motion.  There  was  a  narrow 
platform  outside  the  wheels  and  below  the  axles,  which  I 
well  recollect,  and  a  railing  that  one  might  hold  on  to, 
while  standing  on  the  platform.  I  recollect  it,  for  when 
steam  was  let  into  the  cylinder  for  the  first  time  in  the  car 
shops  at  Mount  Clare,  I  remember  that  several  of  the 
Directors  and  myself  stepped  upon  the  platform  and 
steadied  ourselves  by  the  rail  when  the  wheels  made  their 
first  revolution,  and  the  first  yard  of  movement  followed. 


JONATHAN  KNIGHT.  235 

The  passenger  car  is  about  right  in  the  above  representa- 
tion of  it.  The  likeness  of  the  passengers  is  not  flattered  ; 
the  idea  of  a  perfect  jam,  however,  is  sufficiently  indicated. 
These  I  do  not  recollect  in  detail.  About  the  tout  ensemble, 
the  general  effect,  there  can  be  no  question,  nor  can  there 
be  any  question  with  regard  to  the  facts  stated  by  me,  as 
such,  in  the  lecture  you  refer  to. 

I  have  brought  to  my  mind  by  this  sketch,  the  whole 
scene  of  the  railroad  trip,  and  am  altogether  satisfied  with 
my  illustration,  not  as  a  work  of  art,  of  course,  but  as  the 
idea  of  that  which  startled  the  country  people  along  the 
line  of  the  Patapsco,  who  turned  out  to  gaze  upon  the 
strange  exhibition  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  August, 
eighteen  hundred  and  thirty. 

It  may  be  interesting  here  to  compare  the  pioneer 
American  passenger  car  attached  to  the  Cooper  Loco- 
motive, with  the  first  passenger  car  built  for  the  Stock- 
ton and  Darlington,  the  first  railroad  for  passengers 
constructed  in  England,  in  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty- 
five,  from  a  design  by  Mr.  Stephenson,  C.  E.  It  was, 
however,  a  very  unpretentious,  and  indeed  a  somewhat 
uncouth  machine,  more  resembling  the  caravans  still  to 
be  seen  at  country  fairs,  containing  the  "  Giant  and  the 
Dwarf,'7  and  other  wonders  of  the  world,  than  a  passen- 
ger coach  of  any  extant  form.  A  row  of  seats  ran  along 
each  side  of  the  interior,  and  a  long  deal  table  was  fixed  in 
the  centre,  the  access  being  by  means  of  a  door  in  the  rear 
end,  in  the  manner  of  an  Omnibus.  Mr.  Stephenson  was 
consulted  as  to  the  name  of  the  coach,  and  he  at  once 
suggested,  "  The  Jftcperiment,"  and  by  this  name  it  was 


236  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

called.  The  Company's  arms  were  afterwards  painted  on 

its  side  with  the  motto,  "Periculum  privatum  utilitas  pub- 
Uca."* 


FIRST  RAILROAD  PASSENGER  CAR. 


Between  Baltimore  and  Ellicott's  Mills  there  were 
several  curves  in  the  line,  of  four  hundred  feet  radii,  and 
the  use  of  locomotives  on  this  portion  of  road  was  thought 
to  be  impracticable.  The  manner,  however,  in  which  this 
obstacle  was  overcome  is  alluded  to  by  Mr.  Ross  Winans, 
who  witnessed  the  performance  of  the  engine  constructed 
and  run  by  Mr.  Cooper,  in  a  letter  to  Philip  E.  Thomas, 
President  of  the  Railroad  Company.  This  admirable  effect 
of  turning  curves  of  four  hundred  feet  radii  at  fast  speed 
with  very  little  if  any  resistance,  I  believe  to  be  new  in 
the  history  of  railways,  or  at  least  that  it  is  brought 
to  a  greater  degree  of  perfection  on  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  Railroad  than  on  any  other.  It  results  from 
the  judicious  and  scientific  construction  of  the  tread  of  the 
main  wheels  introduced  by  Mr.  Knight,  your  Principal 
Engineer,  by  combining  the  cone  and  cylinder,  f  which 


*  Smilie's  "  Lives  of  Engineers,"  third  volume,  page  170. 

t  To  avoid  the  friction  of  the  flanges  of  the  wheels  against  the  rails,  Mr.  James 
Wright,  of  Columbia,  Pa.,  had  invented  a  method  which  consisted  in  giving  a 


JONATHAN  KNIGHT.  237 

expedient,  as  far  as  I  know,  has  never  been  attempted  in 
Europe. 

The  trite  adage  that  "  necessity  is  the  mother  of  inven- 
tion/' was  never  more  fully  verified  than  in  the  adaptation 
of  rolling  machinery  to  this  railway.  "The  unavoidable 
curves  and  ascents  of  the  road  induced  many  to  believe 
that  the  use  of  steam  to  any  extent  was  impracticable,  and 
that  horse-power  must  be  applied,  at  all  events  upon  much 
the  greater  portion  of  the  road."*  To  overcome  these  im- 
pediments, Mr.  Knight  instituted  a  series  of  most  careful 
experiments,  based  on  elaborate  scientific  calculations  in 
reference  to  the  best  form  of  rail ;  the  best  form  for  the 
tread  of  the  wheel  ;  resistance  to  motion  ;  the  tractive 
power  of  horses  and  locomotives  ;  adhesion  of  wheels  upon 
the  rail,  and  other  relative  subjects  bearing  upon  the  most 
efficient  adaptation  of  machinery  to  the  movement  of  rail- 
way trains.  His  conclusions,  deduced  from  these  experi- 
ments, are  recognized  as  correct,  and  are  accepted  by  rail- 
way engineers  to  the  present  time. 

During  the  construction  of  the  railroad  between  Balti- 
more and  Ellicott's  Mills,  Mr.  Knight  visited  England  to 
acquire  knowledge  in  that  then  new  department  of  Civil 
Engineering.  Upon  his  return,  in  eighteen  hundred  and 
thirty,  he  was  appointed  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Company, 
but  his  duties  did  not  embrace  the  superintendence  of  con- 
struction. He  located  the  road,  planned  the  structures 


conical  form  to  the  rim  of  the  wheel,  so  that  wherever  the  road  curves,  the  larger 
part  of  the  rim  of  the  outer  wheel  comes  on  the  rail,  and  consequently  travels 
faster  than  the  inner  wheel. — Treatise  on  Railroads  by  Thomas  Earle,  Phiia.,  1830. 
*  Report,  President  and  Directors  B.  and  O.  Railroad,  Oct.,  1832. 


238  CIYIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

and  machinery,  and  prepared  the  work  for  contract,  after 
which  it  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  Engineer  of  Construc- 
tion. This  organization  continued  until  eighteen  hundred 
and  thirty-six,  at  which  time  the  main  stem  of  the  road 
was  completed  to  Harper's  Ferry,  and  the  branch  to 
Washington  in  operation.  The  road  was  opened  to  Har- 
per's Ferry,  eighty-two  miles  from  Baltimore,  December 
first,  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-four,  at  a  cost  of  about 
four  millions  of  dollars. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-five  Mr.  Knight  made  a 
personal  examination  of  the  country  between  Cumberland 
and  the  Ohio  river,  to  ascertain  its  general  adaptation  to 
a  route  for  the  railroad  across  the  Alleghany  range.  His 
report  of  this  reconnoissance  is  comprehensive  and  instruc- 
tive, and  ably  develops  the  principle  upon  which  a  rail- 
road, located  over  such  a  country,  should  be  made.  In 
these  examinations  he  exhibited  the  correctness  of  eye,  and 
the  accuracy  in  computing  distances  and  elevations,  for 
which  he  was  very  remarkable. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-nine  the  construction  of 
the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  between  Harper's 
Ferry  and  Cumberland,  ninety-eight  miles,  was  com- 
menced, arid  opened  for  travel  in  November,  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  forty-two.  During  the  progress  of  this  work, 
and  until  April  of  the  latter  year,  Mr.  Knight  was  em- 
ployed in  various  duties  of  a  general  character,  occasion- 
ally visiting  the  line  to  inspect  the  work,  but  chiefly  em- 
ployed in  the  preparation  of  reports  upon  various  subjects 
connected  with  the  general  interests  of  the  Company. 
The  able  reports  and  elaborate  analytical  papers  which  he 


JONATHAN  KNIGHT.  239 

prepared  during  a  series  of  years,  and  which  appear  in  the 
annual  publications  of  the  Company,  do  him  great  credit 
as  a  scientific  investigator.  In  April,  eighteen  hundred 
and  forty- two,  he  resigned  his  position  as  an  officer  of  the 
Company,  and  reared  to  his  farm  in  Pennsylvania.  Sub- 
sequently, however,  he  was  employed  as  Consulting  Engi- 
neer by  the  Company  on  important  engineering  questions, 
and,  in  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-four  arid  forty-seven, 
he  co-operated  with  the  city  of  Wheeling  in  the  contro- 
versy and  negotiations  between  that  city  and  the  Balti- 
more and  Ohio  Railroad  Company,  respecting  the  route 
to  Wheeling,  and  which  was  compromised  in  eighteen 
hundred  and  forty-seven ;  the  Company  accepting,  in  part, 
the  line  recommended  by  him,  and  commencing  the  work 
in  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty. 

"  Mr.  Knight,"  says  Benjamin  H.  Latrobe,  the  successor 
of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  in  a  recent  letter  to  the 
author,  "  showed  much  science  and  skill  in  his  locations. 
His  thorough  knowledge  of  elementary  mathematics,  and 
his  readiness  in  applying  them  to  the  solution  of  the  many 
questions  which  arose  in  that  early  day  of  railroad  practice, 
and  his  investigation  of  the  elements  of  resistance  to  cars 
moving  upon  railroads,  displayed  fine  powers  of  analysis, 
and  were  also  marked  by  sound  judgment  in  the  state- 
ment of  results.  Some  of  these  investigations  were  pub- 
lished in  the  early  annual,  and  other  reports  of  the  Com- 
pany. These  papers  display  his  distinguished  ability  as 
an  investigator  of  railroad  questions,  and  great  force  and 
perspicuity  as  a  writer,  the  latter  especially  creditable  to 
one  whose  early  education  had  of  necessity  been  so  limited. 


240  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

In  his  location  of  the  Washington  Branch  Road,  Mr. 
Knight  exhibited  much  judgment.  Although  this  road 
was  chiefly  built  for  passenger  business,  and  the  features 
of  the  country  were  unfavorable  for  low  grades,  he  made 
twenty  feet  per  mile  the  limit,  and  the  cheap  working  of 
the  line,  with  its  heavy  travel  and  increasing  trade,  is  now 
justifying  his  foresight.  In  locating  the  part  of  the  main 
stem  beyond  Ellicott's  Mills,  he  adhered  to  the  same  prin- 
ciples as  far  as  was  practicable,  upon  a  route  of  so  differ- 
ent a  character.  He  personally  superintended  the  loca- 
tion over  Parr's  Ridge  for  inclined  planes,  and  thence  on- 
ward to  the  Point  of  Rocks,  on  the  Potomac,  sixty-seven 
miles  from  Baltimore.  Here  commenced  the  great  con- 
test with  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Canal  Company  for  the 
right  of  way  up  the  Potomac,  which  Mr.  Knight  conducted 
on  the  part  of  the  railroad  company,  with  signal  talent, 
both  in  adjusting  the  location  of  the  two  works  on  the  dis- 
puted ground,  and  in  the  controversial  papers,  wherein 
the  relative  merits  of  canals  and  railroads  were  discussed 
in  that  connection." 

The  leading  characteristics  of  Mr.  Knight,  as  a  profes- 
sional man,  were  strongly  marked,  and  entitled  him  to  a 
high  rank  in  the  roll  of  American  Civil  Engineers.  His 
natural  aptitude  for  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  in 
the  exact  sciences,  and  especially  those  which  depend 
upon  the  skilful  use  of  algebraic  analysis,  was  unsur- 
passed. The  habit  of  close  thinking,  into  which  he  was 
led  by  the  natural  tendencies  of  his  mind  to  mathe- 
matical investigation,  made  him  reason  rigidly  on  all 
subjects,  and  gave  a  philosophical  cast  to  his  conver- 


JONATHAN  KNIGHT.  241 

sation,  upon  almost  every  topic  that  he  touched.  Yet  his 
remarks  were  not  a  series  of  dry  abstractions,  but  were 
practical  in  their  bearings,  and  enriched  by  illustration 
and  anecdote.  In  political  economy  he  was  well  versed, 
and  expressed  enlightened  and  comprehensive  views  upon 
the  subject  of  banking,  trade,  manufactures  and  agricul- 
ture, of  the  last  of  which  he  possessed  much  practical 
knowledge,  derived  from  experience  and  careful  obser- 
vation. Politics,  also,  was  a  favorite  theme  with  him, 
and  upon  public  measures  he  always  expressed  broad 
and  national  views.  He  discussed  the  characters  of  our 
public  men  with  great  spirit,  and  often  with  a  sarcastic 
humor  which  marked  his  conversations  upon  most  sub- 
jects. The  character  of  Henry  Clay  appeared  to  be  his 
ideal  of  a  statesman  and  orator. 

In  private  life,  he  was  distinguished  by  many  excellent 
qualities.  He  reared  a  large  family — ten  children — fulfill- 
ing his  domestic  duties  in  the  most  exemplary  manner, 
bringing  up  his  children  in  the  fear  of  God,  providing 
for  them  with  a  judicious  regard  to  their  several  capaci- 
ties and  dispositions.  He  left  a  comfortable  estate,  after 
having  settled  all  his  children  during  his  own  lifetime  ;  and 
among  his  neighbors  and  many  friends,  a  character  of 
unsullied  probity  and  consistent  Christian  kindness. 

Mr.  Knight  was  taken  suddenly  ill  with  bilious  colic, 
in  a  very  severe  form,  at  his  home,  on  the  thirteenth  day 
of  November,  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-eight.  In  a  few 
hours  inflammation  had  set  in,  causing  a  severe  pain  and 
a  continued  oppressive  sensation  in  the  chest.  He  died 
on  the  ninth  day  of  his  illness,  being  the  seventy-first 


242  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

anniversary  of  his  birth-day.  During  his  last  illness  he 
was  very  patient  and  calm,  conversed  little,  but  always 
spoke  pleasantly  to  those  about  him,  recognizing  them 
until  the  last  moment,  and  with  his  last  words  expressed 
his  belief  "  that  he  had  made  his  peace  with  Grod  and  had 
no  matter  to  make  up  with  any  man  ;  and  that  he  believed 
he  was  entering  upon  a  state  of  rest  and  happiness  in  the 
life  to  come." 


for  Stuarts  "ml  SiMatary- Ameers  ofAm.6ri.c8_ , 


BENJAMIN   H.   LATROBE, 

CIVIL    ENGINEER. 


BENJAMIN  H.  LATROBE  was  born  on  the  nineteenth 
of  December,  eighteen  hundred  and  six,  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia.  He  was  the  fifth  child  and  youngest  son  of 
Benjamin  H.  Latrobe,  well  known  as  an  eminent  civil  en- 
gineer and  architect,  in  the  early  part  of  the  present  cen- 
tury, and  especially  in  connection  with  the  Capitol  of  the 
United  States,  the  best  features  of  which  were  designed 
and  executed  by  him,  although  he  did  not  live  to  com- 
plete the  building.  Mr.  Latrobe,  Senior,  was  descended 
from  a  French  Protestant  family,  which  had  emigrated 
to  Ireland.  His  Father  was  an  English  clergyman,  but 
his  mother  was  a  Pennsylvania  lady  of  the  Antes  family, 
well  known  in  Montgomery  county  of  that  State.  He 
emigrated  to  America  in  seventeen  hundred  and  ninety- 
eight  ;  and  being  a  widower,  married  in  eighteen 
hundred,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Isaac  Hazlehurst,  a  Phil- 
adelphia merchant,  and  also  an  Englishman  by  birth. 

The  subject  of  the  present  memoir  was  not  educated 
for  the  profession  he  afterwards  pursued,  and  to  which  he 
might  have  been  so  well  trained  in  his  father's  office.  He 
was  intended  for  the  law  ;  and,  although  his  father  died 

243 


244  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

when  his  son  was  but  fourteen,  his  purpose  in  regard  to 
him  was  adhered  to.  and  having  graduated  at  the  Roman 
Catholic  College  of  St.  Mary's,  in  Baltimore,  at  the  age 
of  seventeen,  he  entered  a  law  office,  as  a  student,  End 
was  admitted  to  the  Baltimore  bar  before  he  had  com- 
pleted his  twentieth  year.  He  went  soon  after  to  New 
Jersey,  and  commenced  the  practice  of  law  in  Salem 
County  ;  but  the  climate  not  agreeing  with  his  health,  he 
returned  to  Baltimore  in  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty- 
nine.  Having  meanwhile  discovered  that  the  legal  profes- 
sion was  not  to  his  taste,  he  left  it  the  following  year  and 
entered  the  service  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad 
Company,  as  an  assistant  of  Jonathan  Knight,  then  Chief 
Engineer  of  that  Company. 

The  brother  of  the  subject  of  our  sketch,  J.  H.  B.  La- 
trobe,  Esq.,  the  distinguished  legal  counsellor  of  the  Bal- 
timore and  Ohio  Railroad  Company,  was  educated  as  an 
engineer  ;  but  maturity  brought  to  him  a  taste  for  meta- 
physics and  law,  and  they  have  each  chosen  the  path  for 
which  nature  intended  them,  and  are  leading  men  in  their 
respective  professions. 

Benjamin  H.  Latrobe,  being  already  an  accomplished 
draughtsman,  and  a  fine  mathematician,  soon  rose 
through  several  subordinate  positions,  to  the  rank  of 
principal  assistant  to  Mr.  Knight,  and,  in  eighteen  hundred 
and  thirty -two,  began  the  location  of  the  Washington 
Branch  Railroad,  under  his  directions.  This  service  oc- 
cupied him  until  the  close  of  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty- 
three.  In  the  following  year,  he  located  that  portion  of 
the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  between  the  Point  of 


BENJAMIN  H.  LATROBE.  245 

Rocks  and  Harper's  Ferry,  which  had  not  been  previously 
established  by  Mr.  Knight,  conjointly  with  the  Engineer 
of  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Canal  Company. 

In  the  same  year  he  reconnoitred  and  reported  upon 
a  railroad  route  from  Harper's  Ferry  to  Chambersburgh, 
through  Hagerstown,  Maryland. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-five,  Mr.  Latrobe  was 
appointed  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Baltimore  and  Port  De- 
posit Railroad,  which  was  located  and  built  under  his 
direction  from  Baltimore  to  Havre-de-Grace,  thirty-four 
miles.  The  features  which  distinguished  this  road  were, 
three  bridges  of  considerable  length,  two  of  them  with 
draws,  over  rivers  of  moderate  depth  of  water,  but  almost 
unfathomable  mud.  They  were  supported  upon  piles, 
and  were  the  first  long  railroad  bridges  of  this  description 
erected  in  the  United  States.  The  ferry  at  Havre-de- 
Grace  was  also  peculiar,  the  cars,  with  freight  and  bag- 
gage, being  transported  across  the  river,  three-fourths  of 
a  mile  wide,  upon  tracks  laid  upon  the  upper  deck  of  a 
steamboat,  so  as  to  avoid  breaking  bulk  ;  a  plan  since 
adopted  successfully  upon  other  railroads  in  this  country. 
Mr.  Latrobe  left  the  service  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio 
Railroad,  when  he  entered  the  other,  in  eighteen  hundred 
and  thirty-five,  but  was  recalled  in  eighteen  hundred  and 
thirty-six,  and  appointed  "  Engineer  of  Location  and 
Construction,"  by  that  Company. 

In  this  capacity,  he  executed  all  the  surveys,  planned 
and  superintended  all  the  works  of  construction,  with  the 
advice  of  Jonathan  Knight,  the  Chief  Engineer.  He 
remained  in  the  service  of  the  Baltimore  and  Port  Deposit 


246  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

Railroad  Company  until  the  opening  of  that  work  in 
July,  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-seven,  and  thencefor- 
ward devoted  his  exclusive  attention  to  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Railroad  surveys,  which  were  prosecuted  during  that 
year  to  Wheeling  and  Pittsburg,  on  the  Ohio.  In 
eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-eight  Mr.  Latrobe  made 
an  elaborate  report  upon  these  surveys,  which  extended 
over  a  section  of  a  mountainous  country  upwards  of 
three  hundred  miles  in  length  and  fifty  or  sixty  miles  in 
breadth,  in  a  manner  to  give  much  professional  credit  to 
himself.  It  was  through  this  able  report  that  Mr.  Latrobe 
became  well  known  to  the  profession  throughout  the 
country,  and  he  gained  soon  after  a  higher  reputation  by 
a  report  upon  the  principal  railroads  of  the  Eastern  and 
Middle  States,  in  which  he  was  associated  with  Mr. 
Knight. 

In  this  year,  also,  the  four  inclined  planes  over  Parr's 
Ridge  were  replaced  by  a  railroad,  with  grades  of  eighty 
feet  per  mile,  as  located  by  Mr.  Latrobe  and  constructed 
under  his  supervision,  and  the  general  direction  of  the 
Chief  Engineer.  Some  important  changes  were  also 
made  in  the  bed  of  the  road,  by  which  a  part  of  its 
most  objectionable  curves  were  dispensed  with. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-nine  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Railroad  from  Harper's  Ferry  to  Cumberland, 
ninety-eight  miles,  was  finally  located,  and  its  construc- 
tion, upon  the  plans  prepared  by  Mr.  Latrobe  and 
approved  by  Mr.  Knight,  commenced.  The  work  of  chief 
interest  upon  that  part  of  the  road  were  three  tunnels — 
the  longest  twelve  hundred  feet — and  several  bridges  of 


BENJAMIN  H.  LATROBE.  247 

considerable  magnitude,  built  of  timber,  upon  a  plan 
approved  by  Mr.  Latrobe,  and  in  which  arch  braces  were 
adopted,  with  counterbraces  and  tie-rods  between  them. 
The  plan  of  these  structures  is  fully  described  in  Haupt's 
work  on  Bridges. 

This  important  division  of  the  road  was  opened  for 
travel  in  November,  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-two, 
Mr.  Latrobe  having  previously  been  appointed  Chief 
Engineer,  upon  the  retirement  of  Jonathan  Knight  in 
April  of  that  year. 

After  the  completion  of  the  road  to  Cumberland,  Mr. 
Latrobe  was  occupied  during  the  succeeding  years,  up  to 
eighteen  hundred  and  forty-seven,  in  a  variety  of  duties, 
all  of  which,  however,  related  to  the  extension  of  the 
railroad  beyond  Cumberland  to  the  Ohio  river.  He 
reconnoitred  the  country  through  Virginia,  in  eighteen 
hundred  and  forty-three  and  forty-four,  and  in  the  latter 
year  pursued  his  examinations  into  Ohio,  to  the  leading 
centres  of  trade  of  that  State.  He  also  visited  Richmond 
during  each  winter  of  these  years,  in  aid  of  the  efforts 
the  Company  were  making  to  obtain  an  acceptable  right 
of  way  through  Virginia,  and  was  deputed  by  President 
McLean,  then  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  as  Minister  to 
England,  to  make  the  annual  report  to  the  stockholders, 
in  July,  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-five,  and  on  his 
recommendation  they  rejected  the  Virginia  law  of  that 
year 

The  transportation  department  of  the  railroad  from 
Baltimore  to  Cumberland,  was  also  under  his  general 
direction  during  that  time,  and  in  eighteen  hundred  and 


248  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

forty-six  the  old  plate  rail  track  was  replaced  by  T  rail, 
and  many  additional  changes  were  made  in  the  road  bed. 
and  its  most  objectionable  curves. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-seven  the  surveys  west  of 
Cumberland  were  resumed,  and  in  that,  and  the  two  suc- 
ceeding years,  the  line  to  Wheeling,  two  hundred  miles  in 
length,  was  located,  and  most  of  it  placed  under  contract. 
In  the  location,  plans,  and  construction  of  this  part  of  the 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  Mr.  Latrobe  performed  a 
most  difficult  task.  The  country  presented  unusually  bold 
features,  even  for  a  mountainous  region.  Two  main  sum- 
mits, one  of  twenty-six  hundred,  and  one  of  two  thousand 
feet  above  tide  water,  had  to  be  passed,  with  a  valley 
between  them  less  than  fourteen  hundred  feet  above  the 
ocean.  Lines  of  better  grade  might  have  been  had,  but 
with  shorter  curves  and  a  greater  expenditure  of  distance 
and  cost  of  construction.  Mr.  Latrobe  selected  the  most 
direct,  and  easiest  to  build,  although  it  involved  an 
inclination  unprecedented  in  leading  railroad  routes. 

The  principal  summit  of  twenty-six  hundred  feet  above 
tide  water,  between  the  Potomac  and  Youghiogheny,  was 
passed  by  a  grade  averaging  one  hundred  and  sixteen 
feet  to  the  mile,  for  fifteen  continuous  miles.  The  same 
grade  was  used  for  eight  and  one-half  miles  in  descending 
to  the  valley  of  Cheat  river  ;  and  in  crossing  the  second 
summit  of  two  thousand  feet,  between  this  river  and 
Tygart's  Yalley,  about  six  miles  of  one  hundred  and  five 
feet  grade  was  used  on  either  side. 

Mr.  Latrobe  had  adopted  this  location  on  his  own 
responsibility,  as  the  Company's  Chief  Engineer  ;  but  as 


BENJAMIN  H.  LATROBE.  249 

it  presented  novel  and  important  questions,  a  Consulting 
Board,  composed  of  Jonathan  Knight,  Capt.  John  Childe, 
and  himself,  was  appointed  to  consider  the  subject. 
Under  the  direction  of  this  Board,  new  surveys  were  made 
in  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-eight,  which  resulted,  how- 
ever, in  showing  that  the  best  ground  had  already  been 
selected  ;  and  in  an  elaborate  report ,  made  soon  after, 
the  location  of  Mr.  Latrobe  was  approved  by  his  col- 
leagues, and  finally  adopted  by  the  Company. 

The  road  was  accordingly  constructed  upon  that  line, 
and  its  natural  features,  and  the  works  connected  with 
them,  have  become  well  known  throughout  the  country. 
Upon  the  two  hundred  miles  between  Cumberland  and 
Wheeling,  there  are  twelve  tunnels  of  various  lengths, — 
the  longest  the  "  Kingwood," — four  thousand  one  hun- 
dred feet,  through  a  compact  slate  rock,  overlaid  in  part 
by  a  good  limestone  roof,  and  for  the  rest  of  its  length 
supported  by  brick  arching.  There  is  a  long  deep  cut  at 
each  end  of  the  tunnel.  It  was  worked  from  both  ends, 

n 

and  from  three  shafts  fifteen  by  twenty  feet  square,  and 
one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  deep.  The  greatest  height  of 
the  ridge  over  the  tunnel  is  two  hundred  and  twenty  feet. 
The  time  employed  on  the  work  was  about  two  years  and 
eight  months,  and  the  number  of  cubic  yards  removed  in 
the  tunnel,  was  about  ninety  thousand,  together  with 
about  one  hundred  and  ten  thousand  yards  of  earth  and 
rock  outside,  for  the  approaches.* 


*  At  the  crossing  of  the  mountain  over  this  tunnel,  previous  to  its  completion 
in  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-three,  the  grade  was  upwards  of  five  hundred  feet 
per  mile,  over  which  a  locomotive  engine  propelled  a  single  car  at  a  time,  weigh- 


250  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

The  next  most  important  work  was  the  "Doe  Gully" 
tunnel,  twelve  hundred  feet  in  length,  where  a  bend  in 
the  Potomac  river  is  crossed,  and  a  distance  of  nearly 
four  miles  saved.  The  approaches  to  this  work  are 
imposing;  for  several  miles  on  each  side  of  the  tunnel,  the 
road  occupies  a  high  level  on  the  steep  hill  sides,  afford- 
ing an  extensive  view  of  grand  mountain  scenery.  The 
tunnel  is  through  a  compact  slate  rock,  which  is  arched 
with  brick  to  preserve  it  from  future  disintegration  by 
atmospheric  action.  The  fronts  or  facades  of  the  arch, 
are  of  fine  white  sandstone,  procured  from  the  summit  of 
the  neighboring  mountain.  The  height  of  the  hill  above 
the  tunnel,  is  one  hundred  and  ten  feet.  The  excavations 
and  embankments  adjacent,  are  very  heavy,  through  slate 
rock.  The  bridges  are  also  numerous,  and  the  "  tres- 
tling,"  across  the  gorges,  on  the  ascent  of  the  Cheat  River 
Hill,  are  structures  of  novel  character,  being  viaducts  sup- 
ported by  slender  pillars  of  cast  iron,  very  light  in  ap- 
pearance, yet  strong,  and  durable.  One  of  these  viaducts 
is  forty-six,  and  the  other  fifty-eight  feet  high  ;  the  former 
resting  on  a  solid  wall  of  masonry,  whose  foundation  is 
one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  below  the  base  of  the  col- 
umns; the  latter  on  a  similar  wall  with  foundations 
seventy-four  feet  below  base  of  columns.  The  pillars 
lean  inwards  to  give  stability,  and  are  thoroughly  tied 
and  braced ,  and  carry  two  tracks  of  rails  at  the  grade  of 
the  road. 

ing,  with  its  load,  thirteen  tons,  at  a  speed  of  upwards  of  ten  miles  per  hour.  When 
the  track  was  wet  or  frosty,  the  engine  and  its  load  occasionally  slipped  back- 
wards, and  often  ran  with  locked  wheels,  down  to  the  bottom  of  the  grade  without 
injury. 


BENJAMIN  H.  LATROBE.  251 

In  the  design  and  erection  of  the  bridges  and  viaducts, 
Mr.  Latrobe  was  assisted  by  Albert  Fink,  a  talented 
German  engineer,  who  was  associated  with  Mr.  Latrobe 
as  an  assistant  for  several  years,  and  is  now  earning  a 
high  reputation  as  an  engineer  and  bridge  architect,  in 
the  South- West. 

The  cost  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  from 
Baltimore  to  Wheeling,  three  hundred  and  seventy-nine 
miles,  completed  June  first,  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty- 
three,  was  fifteen  millions  six  hundred  and  twenty-nine 
thousand  dollars,  including  nearly  one  million  dollars  for 
reconstruction  east  of  Cumberland,  after  the  road  was 
opened  to  that  point  in  November,  eighteen  hundred  and 
forty- two. 

The  working  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad, 
between  Cumberland  and  Wheeling,  has  abundantly  mani- 
fested the  judiciousness  of  its  location  and  manner  of 
construction.  The  high  grades  have  been  operated  with 
great  economy  and  entire  safety,  by  means  of  a  class  of 
locomotives,  using  the  extremely  cheap  mineral  fuel  which 
abounds  in  that  region.  In  addition  to  the  work  already 
described,  and  upon  which  Mr.  Latrobe  has  been  engaged 
as  Chief  Engineer,  he  acted,  from  eighteen  hundred  and 
fifty  to  fifty-four,  as  Consulting  Engineer  of  the  Cin- 
cinnati, Hillsboro  and  Parkersburg  Railroad,  and,  in 
eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-five,  the  Fredericksburgh  and 
Gordonsville  Railroad  Company  employed  him  in  the 
same  capacity. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-four  he  visited  South 
Carolina  to  examine  the  location  of  the  Blue  Ridge 


252  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

Railroad  of  that  State,  upon  which  he  made  an  aKe 
report  of  some  length,  which  was  published  by  that  Com- 
pany. He  again  visited  the  road  in  eighteen  hundred  and 
fifty-seven  to  give  his  professional  testimony  upon  ques- 
tions connected  with  the  object  of  his  previous  visit. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-one  Mr.  Latrobe  was 
appointed  Chief  Engineer  of  the  North- Western  and  Vir- 
ginia Railroad  Company,  extending  from  Grafton,  a  point 
on  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  to  Parkersburg  on 
the  Ohio  river,  ninety-two  miles  below  Wheeling.  In  the 
contest  for  the  right  of  way  through  Virginia  for  the  Bal- 
timore and  Ohio  Railroad,  Mr.  Latrobe  always  favored  the 
most  direct  line  to  Cincinnati,  and  opposed  the  Wheeling 
terminus.  He,  therefore,  entered  con  amore  into  the  con- 
struction of  the  Parkersburg  Railroad,  under  the  charter 
which  the  citizens  of  that  place  had  succeeded  in  obtaining. 

The  country  between  Grafton  and  Parkersburg  was 
very  much  broken,  and  required  patient  examination  to 
secure  the  best  line,  which  was  only  obtained  by  a  free 
resort  to  tunnelling  through  the  numerous  high  and  sharp 
ridges  dividing  the  many  watercourses.  No  less  than 
twenty-three  tunnels,  in  one  hundred  and  four  miles,  had  to 
be  driven,  the  longest  twenty-seven  hundred  feet.  These 
tunnels  are  the  most  striking  features  of  the  road.  There 
are  many  bridges,  but  none  of  great  magnitude,  and 
several  embankments,  but  none  of  extraordinary  altitude 
or  length.  The  depot  arrangements  upon  the  Ohio  river 
at  Parkersburg  are  worthy  of  attention,  for  their  excel- 
lent facilities  for  handling  freight  by  means  of  machinery 
used  for  raising  and  lowering  it  from  steamboats. 


BENJAMIN  H.  LATROBE.  253 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-six,  Mr.  Latrobe  was 
appointed  President  of  the  Pittsburgh  and  Connellsville 
Railroad  Company,  and  also  of  the  Northern  Virginia 
Railroad  Company.  From  this  last  position  he  retired  in 
the  latter  part  of  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-seven ,  and 
devoted  his  whole  attention  to  the  direction  of  the  Pitts- 
burgh and  Connellsville  Railroad,  performing,  from  early 
in  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-eight,  the  duties  of  Chief 
Engineer  of  the  same  Company.  In  eighteen  hundred 
and  sixty-four  he  retired  from  the  Presidency  of  this  Com- 
pany, retaining,  however,  the  Chief  Engineership,  which 

he  still  holds. 

§ 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-three,  he  became  Con- 
sulting Engineer  of  the  Philadelphia,  Wilmington,  and 
Baltimore  Railroad  Company,  in  connection  with  the 
bridge  then  about  to  be  built  across  the  Susquehanna 
river  at  Havre-de-Grace.  In  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty- 
five,  he  was  appointed  Consulting  Engineer  of  the  Mis- 
souri Railroad  Company,  more  especially  in  reference  to 
the  bridge  about'  being  erected  over  the  Missouri  river 
at  St.  Charles,  which  position  he  held  for  about  two 
years. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-six  he  was  appointed 
Consulting  Engineer  to  the  Governor  and  Council  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, in  connection  with  the  Troy  and  Greenfield 
Railroad,  and  Hoosac  Tunnel,  and  held  the  office  until 
January,  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-nine,  when  he  re- 
signed. 

Early  in  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-nine,  on  the  invi- 
tation of  the  late  John  A.  Roebling,  he  became  one  of  a 


254  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

Consulting  Board  of  Engineers  upon  the  plans  of  the 
"East  River  Suspension  Bridge,"  and  continued  to  act 
with  the  Board  until  its  services  were  terminated,  and 
report  made  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year. 

Such  is  .a  brief  summary  of  forty  years  of  the  profes- 
sional life  of  this  distinguished  Civil  Engineer.  In  looking 
through  the  numerous  reports  from  his  able  pen,  the 
author  is  at  a  loss  to  select  from  among  them,  such  as 
might  be  considered  most  worthy  of  notice  and  deserving 
of  preservation,  as  part  of  the  professional  history  of  his 
time. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-six,  when  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  Railroad  Company  was  hesitating  whether  it 
would  extend  its  road  west  of  Cumberland  to  Pitts- 
burgh through  Pennsylvania,  or  to  some  point  below  on 
the  Ohio,  in  Yirginia,  the  Pittsburgh  and  Connellsville 
Railroad  Company,  having  located  a  part  of  its  road, 
offered  its  charter  to  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad 
Company  (to  whom  Pennsylvania  had  refused  to  renew 
its  former  right  of  way  on  terms  that  would  be  accepted). 

The  Company  decided,  however,  to  go  through  Yirginia 
rather  than  through  Pennsylvania,  even  if  they  were 
compelled  to  make  their  terminus  on  the  Ohio  as  far 
down  as  Wheeling.  This  decision  was  an  unfortunate 
one  for  the  Company  ;  for  if  the  road  had  been  first  made 
to  Pittsburgh,  the  State  of  Yirginia  would  have  finally 
accorded  the  right  to  Parkersburg  (as  has  since  been 
proved),  and  the  one  hundred  miles  to  Wheeling  would 
have  been  saved,  and  could  well  have  been  spared,  for  in 
the  final  arrangement  it  has  become  mainly  a  local  road. 


BENJAMIN  H.  LATROBE.  255 

Mr.  Latrobe  is  now  engaged  in  endeavoring  to  accom- 
plish that  which  he  desired  to  have  seen  effected  at  first, 
and  should  he  be  so  favored,  may  live  to  fill  up  the  meas- 
ure of  his  professional  ambition — the  completion,  under 
his  direction,  of  two  great  lines  of  railroad  which  are 
equally  necessary  to  Baltimore. 

He  has  been  invited  to  take  charge  of  other  lines 
of  railroads,  but  the  interest  he  has  always  felt  in  the 
city  of  Baltimore,  and  the  completion  of  her  connections 
with  the  West,  has  always  led  him  to  decline  engage- 
ments incompatible  with  that  paramount  object  of  his 
career  as  a  Civil  Engineer. 

Mr.  Latrobe  is  as  distinguished  for  his  modesty,  urban- 
ity and  gentlemanly  deportment,  as  for  his  eminence  as 
an  Engineer.  When  complimented  on  the  opening  of  the 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  at  the  Fairmount  banquet, 
he  characteristically  replied,  in  part  as  follows  : 

"The  merit  which  has  caused  my  name  to  be  men- 
tioned in  this  connection,  would  doubtless  have  been 
* 

exhibited  to  the  same  extent  by  any  other  professional 
man,  who  had  the  same  opportunity  of  constructing  a 
similar  road  over  such  a  country.  The  general  maps 
indicated  the  courses  of  the  streams  that  were  to  facilitate 
the  work  ;  but  where  the  mountains  were  to  be  crossed 
and  tunnelled,  and  the  rivers  to  be  spanned,  was  a  matter 
of  careful  examination,  in  which  I  was  aided  by  the  talent 
and  perseverance  of  skilful  assistants,  whose  valuable 
services  I  shall  always  take  pleasure  in  acknowledging." 
In  another  place  he  says:  "  In  crossing  or  tunnelling 
the  mountains,  and  spanning  the  rivers,  sometimes  one 


256  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

x  w 

plan  had  to  be  adopted  and  sometimes  another,  and  I 
have  been  constantly  surrounded  by  able  and  accom- 
plished assistants,  to  whom  I  take  pleasure  in  according 
their  share  of  whatever  merit  there  may  be  found  in  the 
task  I  have  accomplished." 

A  less  sanguine  temperament  than  that  possessed  by 
Mr.  Latrobe  would  have  recoiled  from  the  task  he  saw 
before  him,  but  its  very  difficulties  seemed  to  give  the 
work  new  attractions. 

These  works,  from  the  Chesapeake  to  the  Ohio,  are  a 
noble  monument  to  his  professional  skill  and  indomitable 
perseverance. 


aart;;  Ctdj  ScMiiifsTy  En^iaeera  ofAirinsa-. 


COLONEL  CHARLES  ELLET,  JR., 

CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEER. 


THE  public  services  of  Charles  Ellet,  Jr.,  have  not 
received  the  general  recognition  and  appreciation  they  so 
highly  merit.  The  Engineering  profession  in  this  country 
has  never  had  a  more  industrious  worker,  or  intelligent 
and  original  thinker.  His  vigorous  mind  challenged,  with 
the  greatest  satisfaction,  enterprises  of  a  bold  and  difficult 
character.  His  views  were  broad  and  far-seeing;  his  judg- 
ment on  matters  pertaining  to  his  profession,  aided  by 
his  superior  mathematical  knowledge,  was  rarely  at  fault, 
although  his  %  opinions  were  often  in  advance  of  the  times. 

Work,  persistent  and  unflagging,  with  brain  and  hand, 
was  the  means  he  used  for  attaining  success,  and  no 
amount  of  discouragement  or  opposition  with  which 
he  might  be  confronted,  would  deter  him  from  pursuing 
his  object,  no  matter  how  remote  the  end  might  at  first 
seem  to  be.  He  was  impatient  of  opposition,  bearing 
down  all  objections  by  a  torrent  of  argument,  sustained 
by  the  most  exact  logical  and  mathematical  deductions. 

His  career  was  full  of  interesting  incidents,  a  few  only 
of  which  can  be  embodied  in  this  sketch,  too  brief  to 
satisfy  the  desires  of  the  compiler. 

257 


258  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

Charles  Ellet,  Jr.,  was  born  January  first,  eighteen 
hundred  and  ten,  at  Penn's  Manor,  Bucks  County,  Penn- 
sylvania, within  five  miles  of  Bristol.  Destined  by  his 
father  to  the  life  of  a  farmer,  he  received,  in  common 
with  the  children  of  his  large  family,  the  plain  English 
education  afforded  by  the  country  grammar  schools  of  the 
time,  and  no  other,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  months' 
attendance  upon  a  day-school  in  Philadelphia.  He  gave 
evidence,  from  an  early  period,  of  mental  development, 
of  the  great  mathematical  talent  for  which  he  was  after- 
wards distinguished,  and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  or  fifteen 
he  began  that  insatiable  pursuit  of  knowledge  which 
enabled  him,  through  many  difficulties,  to  stock  his  ready 
mind  and  retentive  memory  with  an  extraordinary  amount 
of  information.  At  this  period  of  his  life  he  studied  at 
every  opportunity,  hiding  his  books  beneath  his  pillow  in 
sickness,  and  carrying  them  with  him  to  the  plough  and 
the  harvest  field.  While  thus  eager  after  knowledge, 
he  was  conspicuous  among  the  youth  of  his  community 
for  skill,  agility  and  strength,  and  tales  are  still  told  of 
his  daring  feats,  by  those  who  knew  him  in  his  early  days. 

At  the  age  of  seventeen,  young  Ellet  left  home  to  serve 
for  a  few  months  as  rodman,  in  a  survey  then  being 
conducted  by  Canvass  White,  along  the  north  branch  of 
the  Susquehanna,  where  he  acquired  the  rudiments  of  his 
profession. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-eight  he  was  appoint- 
ed by  Judge  Wright,  then  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Chesa- 
peake and  Ohio  Canal,  to  act  as  volunteer  assistant,  without 
any  fixed  position  or  salary.  In  this  capacity  he  did 


COLONEL  CHARLES  ELLET,  JR.  259 

almost  all  the  office  work  of  his  party,  drawing  the 
maps  and  making  the  computations,  almost  without 
assistance,  after  walking  from  ten  to  twenty  miles  a 
day  surveying,  and  fording  the  Potomac  river  in  many 
places.  He  soon  received  from  Judge  Wright,  as  a 
recognition  of  his  services,  the  position  of  Assistant 
Engineer  of  the  Fifth  Residency,  under  the  supposition, 
afterwards  admitted,  that  he  was  at  least  twenty-two 
years  of  age,  and  had  considerable  experience  in  engi- 
neering. During  the  whole  period  of  his  connection  with 
the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Canal,  he  devoted  every  leisure 
hour  to  the  prosecution  of  his  studies,  especially  in  the 
languages,  for  which  he  had  a  marked  talent,  and  acquired 
command  of  several. 

In  two  years,  by  great  economy  and  self-denial,  young 
Ellet  had  set  aside  from  his  slender  salary  a  sufficient  sum  . 
to  enable  him  to  go  abroad  and  complete  his  education  in 
Paris,  where  he  spent  the  winter  of  eighteen  hundred  and 
thirty^thirty-one  in  close  study,  and  in  following  the 
course  of  the  Ecole  Poly  technique.  The  knowledge  of 
French  which  enabled  him  to  do  this  had  been  gained 
since  he  left  his  home,  in  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven.  He  had  the  entree  into  the  most  intellectual  and 
interesting  French  society,  where  he  was  received  in  a 
very  flattering  manner.  He  declined  all  social  overtures 
for  the  sake  of  his  studies,  with  the  exception  of  the  kind 
attention  of  General  Lafayette,  whose  interest  in  him  was 
very  marked,  and  who  talked  with  him  much  of  the  poli- 
tical condition  of  France,  and  foretold  to  him  the  Revolu- 
tion " Des  Trois  Tours"  (which  he  witnessed  within  a 


260  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

week  of  the  prediction),  unless  his   Majesty  "Charles  the 
Tenth  "  should  change  his  policy.'' 

By  husbanding  every  resource  he  made  his  small  stock 
of  money  last  through  a  year,  during  which  time  he  visited 
England,  and  also  travelled  on  foot  through  France  and 
much  of  Germany,  carefully  examining  the  public  works 
of  these  countries.  He  calculated  his  means  so  closely 
that  on  his  journey  home  he  was  forced  to  sell  many  of 
his  treasured  books  and  instruments. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-two,  when  only  twenty- 
two  years  of  age,  with  a  boldness  and  originality  of  thought 
and  action,  by  which  his  whole  professional  career  was  so 
strongly  characterized,  he  proposed  to  Congress  a  plan 
for  the  erection  of  a  wire  suspension  bridge  across  the 
Potomac,  of  one  thousand  feet  span.  The  novelty  of  the 
plan  presented,  and  at  %  time,  too,  when  the  practicability 
of  works  of  this  nature  had  been  demonstrated  only  in  the 
mind  of  the  Engineer,  and  the  general  principles  of  the 
subject  so  little  known  and  understood  by  the  public,  met 
with  no  encouragement  in  the  National  Legislature. 

In  the  summer  of  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-three  he 
was  engaged  as  Assistant  Engineer  in  the  location  of  the 
western  division  of  the  Utica  and  Schenectady  Railroad, 
now  part  of  the  New  York  Central,  under  William  C. 
Young,  Chief  Engineer. 

The  first  survey  of  the  western  division  of  the  New 
York  and  Erie  Railroad  (present  Erie  Railway)  was  con- 
ducted by  him  in  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-four,  and  it 
is  worthy  of  note  that  when,  after  being  discontinued  for 
several  years,  this  enterprise  was  resumed,  and  the  Engi- 


COLONEL  CHARLES  ELLET,  JR.  261 

neers  in  charge  endeavored  to  find  a  more  favorable  loca- 
tion, after  an  expenditure  of  much  time  and  money  upon 
other  surveys,  they  fixed  finally  upon  the  line  located  by 
Ellet  through  the  wilderness  of  Western  New  York,  in 
the  early  part  of  his  professional  career. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-five  he  entered  the  ser- 
vice of  the  James  River  and  Kanawha  Canal  Company,  as 
Assistant,  and  was  very  soon  appointed  Chief  Engineer  of 
the  entire  work. 

In  compliance  with  a  resolution  of  the  Board  of  Direc- 
tors he  made,  during  the  next  year,  a  very  able  report  on 
a  survey  for  a  ship  canal  from  Richmond  to  Warwick,  and 
presented  a  plan  for  the  connection  of  the  James  River 
and  Kanawha  Improvement  with  tide  water.  He  recom- 
mended the  construction  of  a  canal  four  and  one-third 
miles  in  length,  to  extend  from  a  basin  to  be  raised  by  the 
construction  of  a  dam  across  the  river,  below  Mayo's 
Bridge,  through  the  low  grounds  on  the  south  side  of 
James  river,  to  the  deep  water  at  Warwick.  The  dimen- 
sions of  the  canal  proposed  were  :  width  at  surface  one 
hundred  and  twenty  feet,  and  at  the  bottom  fifty-two  feet, 
and  seventeen  feet  deep.  This  was  thought  to  be  amply 
sufficient  for  the  passage  of  the  largest  ships  of  that  time 
from  tide  water  to  the  wharves  at  Richmond. 

His  reasons  for  the  construction  of  a  canal  instead  of 
attempting  to  remove  the  obstructions  between  Rocketts 
and  Warwick,  and  using  the  bed  of  the  river,  are  clear  and 
philosophical :  "  The  bars,  which  are  deposited  at  the 
head  of  tide,  are  formed  by  the  materials  brought  down 
by  the  streams  from  the  interior  of  the  country,  and  they 


262  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

consist,  in  fact,  of  the  waste  of  the  whole  district  drained 
by  the  tributaries  of  the  river,  at  the  mouth  of  which  the 
material  subsides.  This  matter  is  loosened  by  the  action 
of  rains,  and  moved  by  the  current,  the  heavier  particles 
subsiding  as  the  transporting  power  of  the  water  dimin- 
ishes, while  the  lighter  are  swept  on  and  contribute  to 
the  formation  of  bars  at  the  head  of  tide,  and  of  deltas  at 
the  mouth  of  the  streams.  The  deposit  is  greatest  where 
the  diminution  of  the  fall  of  the  river  is  most  abrupt,  and 
the  resistance  to  the  motion  of  the  water  is  greatest,  and, 
consequently,  on  approaching  tide  water,  where  the  trans- 
porting power  of  the  river  is  suddenly  neutralized,  much 
of  the  matter  which  was  forced  along  the  bottom  is  left  by 
the  current,  and  of  that  which  was  held  in  suspension, 
much  is  precipitated. 

"  The  wearing  away  of  the  upland  is  unceasing,  and  the 
process  of  transportation  is  not  less  constant,  and  no  plan 
for  the  navigation  at  the  points  where  the  resistance  of 
the  material  which  is  deposited  is  superior  to  the  tidal 
force,  can  be  perfect  which  does  not  provide  for  the  dis- 
posal of  this  matter. 

11  The  objection,  then,  to  the  project  of  a  dam  below 
shoal  water,  and  raising  the  surface  from  that  point  up  to 
Richmond  a  sufficient  height  to  float  the  shipping  that  can 
come  to  Warwick,  is,  that  instead  of  disposing  of  this 
material,  we  prepare  calm  water  to  destroy  the  force  of  the 
current,  and  a  basin  to  receive  the  sediment  that  is  pre- 
cipitated. We  have  not  the  necessary  data  to  determine 
the  time  that  would  be  required  to  fill  this  basin,  so  as  to 
again  interfere  with  the  navigation  of  the  pond  ;  but  when 


COLONEL  CHARLES  ELLET,  JR.  263 

we  observe  the  great  quantity  of  sediment  that  is  dis- 
charged by  the  river  at  every  freshet,  and  know  that  the 
deposit  would  occur  chiefly  above  this  dam,  and  that  it 
would  continue  to  increase  until  the  depth  of  water  would 
be  reduced  to  the  point  where  the  transporting  power 
would  again  become  superior  to  the  resistance,  we  shall 
appreciate  the  uncertainty  of  the  expedient.77 

During  the  four  years  of  his  connection  with  this  Canal 
Company  he  wrote  many  excellent  pamphlets,  reports, 
and  articles  for  the  public  press,  chiefly  on  topics  relating  to 
the  improvement  and  prosperity  of  the  State  of  Virginia  ; 
and  forcibly  advocated  a  continuous  line  of  improvements, 
extending  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  the  Ohio  river,  an 
enterprise  now  being  consummated  in  the  construction  of 
the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Railroad. 

While  engaged  upon  this  work,  he  married,  in  eighteen 
hundred  and  thirty-seven,  Miss  Daniel,  daughter  of  Judge 
William  Daniel,  of  Lynchburgh,  Virginia,  who  proved  a 
partner  in  every  way  worthy  of  her  husband. 

On  retiring  from  the  service  of  the  James  River  and 
Kanawha  Company,  in  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-nine, 
he  returned  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  published  in  the 
same  year  an  "Essay  on  the  Laws  of  Trade,7'  a  work  of 
two  hundred  and  eighty-two  pages,  devoted  to  the  works  of 
internal  improvement  in  the  United  States.  The  subject 
of  railroad,  canal,  and  river  transportation,  was  thoroughly 
examined  and  discussed.  American  internal  improvement 
was  then  but  in  its  initiative  stage  ;  yet  with  remarkable 
judgment  and  keen  perception  he  forecast  the  sources  and 
lines  of  trade,  as  since  developed  ;  the  tonnage  and  cost 


264  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

of  transportation  ;  the  sources  of  economy,  and  the  causes 
from  which  failure  might  be  apprehended.  He  earnestly 
advocated,  and  gave  his  reasons,  which  have  been  very 
generally  verified  by  railroad  practice,  both  in  this  country 
and  in  Europe,  for  a  low  rate  of  speed  in  the  movement  of 
heavy  freight  trains,  the  use  of  heavier  locomotives,  and  the 
construction  of  the  most  perfect  and  permanent  road  bed  and 
superstructure. 

This  work  attracted  much  attention  at  the  time,  and 
was  extensively  read  by  statesmen,  economists,  and  mana- 
gers of  railway  and  canal  enterprises,  and  may,  at  the 
present  day,  be  found  profitable  reading  by  the  same  class 
of  public  men. 

In  the  same  year  he  published  his  "  Popular  Exposition 
of  the  Incorrectness  of  the  Tariffs  of  Toll  in  use  on  the 
Public  Improvements  of  the  United  States/'  in  which  he 
"  endeavors  to  demonstrate  the  incorrectness  of  the  tariffs 
of  toll  in  common  use  on  the  canals  and  railroads  of 
this  country,  and  to  point  out  a  method  of  assessing 
the  charges  on  heavy  tonnage,  which  will  be  the  means  of 
securing  the  highest  revenue,  and  of  rendering  the  tax  on 
the  public  most  equitable.77 

During  the  next  few  years  Mr.  Ellet  gave  to  the  Council 
of  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  a  design  and  report  for  a  suspen- 
sion bridge  across  the  Mississippi  river  at  that  city  ;  was 
employed  to  survey  the  city  and  county  of  Philadelphia  ; 
paid  a  visit  of  some  months  to  Cuba  with  a  view  to  the 
restoration  of  his  health,  then  so  much  impaired  as  never 
to  be  permanently  restored ;  and  issued  a  number  of 
publications  referring  mainly  to  the  railroads  of  the 


COLONEL  CHARLES  ELLET,  JR.  265 

United  States,  their  tariffs,  and  the  causes  which  conduced 
to  their  general  want  of  prosperity.  The  following 
extracts  will  give,  as  briefly  as  can  be  condensed,  his 
opinions  on  these  subjects.  After  remarking,  "there  are 
completed,  or  in  progress  of  construction,*  between  three 
and  four  thousand  miles  of  railroads  in  the  United  States, 
on  which  have  been  expended  more  than  one  hundred 
millions  of  dollars,"  he  says  : — 

"  Of  these  works  some  few  have  thus  far  sustained 
themselves,  and  distributed  considerable  dividends  ;  the 
receipts  of  some  others  are  sufficient  to  keep  them  in 
repair,  and  pay  the  interest  on  the  loans  incurred  for  their 
construction,  but  the  balance,  having  an  aggregate  length 
of  some  two  thousand  miles — the  capitals  may  be  regarded 
as  positively  sunk,  and  many  of  the  companies  as  insol- 
vent." 

In  his  opinion  "  this  disastrous  result  is  not  the  conse- 
quence of  attempting  improvements  in  positions  where 
trade,  and  travel  were  insufficient  to  authorize  the  neces- 
sary outlay  of  capital  ;  but  proceeds  from  the  fatal 
practice  of  imitation,  and  a  thorough  disrespect  of  first 
principles." 

"  The  roads  constructed  by  these  unfortunate  companies, 
instead  of  being  such  as  appeared  to  be  justified  by  the 
condition  of  the  country  in  which  they  are  situated,  were 
only  such  as  the  Engineer,  or  President,  or  leading  stock- 
holders, had  somewhere  seen  or  read  about.  In  the 
beginning  there  was  no  particular  object  proposed  to  be 
attained  ;  and  in  the  progress  of  the  work,  there  was 

*  1841. 


266  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

nothing  to  rule  the  general  plans,  or  govern  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  detail — and  they  failed,  of  course." 

"  The  object  of  a  railroad  is  to  convey  passengers  and 
freight,  and  the  first  questions  which  every  company  about 
to  embark  in  such  an  enterprise,  should  propose  for  exam- 
ination is,  What  is  the  amount  of  trade  and  travel  to  be 
accommodated  ?  for  this  amount  furnishes  us  the  value  of 
the  object  sought  by  the  improvement,  and  ought  to 
prevent  us  from  paying  more  for  it  than  it  is  worth  ;  and 
the  second  is,  What  should  be  the  location  and  character 
of  the  road,  and  the  character  of  its  furniture,  for  the 
econominal  accommodation  of  the  trade  which  it  is  found 
may  reasonably  be  anticipated."  *  ****** 

"  The  amount  of  trade  to  be  accommodated  has 
never  yet  governed  the  plan,  location,  and  execution 
of  any  public  work.  All  such  enterprises  in  this  country, 
and  indeed  nearly  all  the  railroads  in  the  world,  bear  one 
common  impress,  and  every  important  sign  of  imitation 
of  one  common  standard.  They  are  all  struck,  as  it  were, 
with  the  same  die,  and  belong  to  the  same  set.  The 
same  width  of  track,  the  same  strength  of  rail,  engines 
of  the  same  weight,  and  cars  of  the  same  "magnitude, 
prevail  on  the  roads  between  the  great  cities,  which  carry 
half  a  million  of  tons,  and  some  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  passengers  every  year,  and  those  of  the  obscurest 
districts  of  the  United  States,  where  as  many  persons  and 
as  much  trade  will  scarcely  be  witnessed  in  the  course  of 
half  a  century." 

"This     imitation   is    universal.     The    same     powerful 
engine,  with  its  vast  cars,  is  driven  when  loaded  with  a 


COLONEL  CHARLES  ELLET,  JR.  267 

hundred  tons  of  freight,  or  more  than  a  hundred  pas- 
sengers, as  when  conveying  its  mere  '  tender '  and  empty 
train.  It  is  so  universal  that  the  expenses  of  transpor- 
tation are  now  frequently  estimated,  by  ascertaining  the 
number  of  times  the  engine  passes  over  the  line,  without 
reference  at  all  to  the  load  which  it  draws.  The  error 
consists  simply  in  providing  a  power  too  great  for  the 
business  to  be  done." 

,  "They  make  costly  roads,  build  expensive  superstruc- 
tures, rear  extravagant  edifices,  to  contain  their  cars  and 
engines,  run  heavy  locomotives,  and  use  carriages  almost 
as  capacious  as  dwelling-houses,  to  carry  as  many  pas- 
sengers as  could,  without  much  inconvenience,  be  drawn 
in  a  hand-cart." 

"  If  railroads  do  not  sustain  themselves  it  is  not  because 
they  are  railroads,  but  because  great  roads  have  been  con- 
structed where  little  ones  only  are  required.  I  do  not 
believe  that  there  has  been  such  a  work  commenced,  nor 
probably  authorized,  which  could  not  pay  a  liberal  and 
honest  dividend,  if  the  road,  stock,  and  entire  appa- 
ratus were  duly  proportioned  to  the  duty  to  be  per- 
formed." In  making  a  homely  comparison,  he  says  : 
"  The  power  contrived  to  drive  a  grist-mill,  would  make 
but  small  dividends  if  applied  to  turn  a  churn." 

In  further  explanation  of  his  views  of  railway  econ- 
omy, he  remarks  :  "  It  is  far  from  my  object  to  advocate 
the  exclusive  employment  of  cheap  roads,  and  light 
stock  ;  my  intention  is  only  to  recommend  them  as  I 
would  a  light  carriage,  or  light  machine,  when  true  econ- 
omy, convenience,  and  comfort  dictate  their  adoption.  A 


268 


CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 


large  business  will  demand  more  extensive  preparations." 
An  increase  of  business  will  give  rise 
to  improvements  in  the  system  adequate  to  its  wants. 
When  the  business  created  by  a  popu- 
lation of  many  millions  has  to  be  transacted  along  a  line 
of  canal  or  railroad,  every  resource  that  can  be  obtained 
from  the  increasing  application  of  science  and  art,  will  be 
brought  in  requisition." 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-one  and  two,  he 
designed  and  constructed  the  wire  suspension  bridge 
across  the  Schuylkill  at  Fairmount,  the  first  structure  of 
its  kind  in  this  country,  and  considered  at  the  time  a 
triumph  of  engineering  skill. 

This  bridge  still  remains  in  good  condition,  after  a 
service  of  thirty  years  of  constant  use,  and  is  justly 
regarded  with  feelings  of  pride  by  the  city  of  Phila- 
delphia. Its  destruction  would  be  the  removal  of  one  of 
the  most  interesting  landmarks  of  that  city. 


=~ 


FAIRMOUNT  BRIDGE. 


After  a  second  visit  to  Europe,  Colonel  Ellet  engaged 
in  the  well-remembered  controversy  between  the  Schuyl- 
kill Navigation  Company  and  the  Reading  Railroad. 
The  discussion  was  carried  on  through  the  public  press, 
and  by  circulars  and  pamphlets,  and  was  conducted  with 
much  earnestness  on  both  sides,  and  in  which  he  fully 


COLONEL  CHARLES  ELLET,  JR.  269 

established  his  reputation  as  a  most  forcible  and  unspar- 
ing writer. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  forty -six,  he  was  chosen  Pres- 
ident of  the  Schuylkill  Navigation  Company,  in  which 
he  was  a  large  stockholder,  and  although  in  feeble  health, 
and  greatly  hampered  by  strong  opposition,  he  accom- 
plished an  almost  incredible  amount  of  labor. 

The  navigation  was  increased  from  a  canal  of  a  very 
irregular  and  contracted  area  to  one  averaging  more  than 
seventy  feet  in  width  ;  from  a  depth  of  four  feet  to  six 
feet,  and  from  a  capacity  for  boats  of  sixty  tons  to  not  less 
than  one  hundred  and  eighty  tons  burthen.  Seventy-one 
locks,  one  hundred  and  eighteen  feet  long  by  eighteen 
feet  wide,  arid  eleven  stop  gates,  were  built ;  twenty-five 
culverts  were  lengthened,  and  four  new  ones  built ;  ten 
aqueducts  were  raised,  improved,  and  strengthened  ; 
eighty-two  bridges  were  raised,  and  seventy-four  new  ones 
built ;  twenty-two  dams  were  permanently  raised  j  two 
new  channels  were  cut  for  the  river  ;  eleven  new  guard 
locks  were  built,  and  many  of  the  old  ones  raised  and 
strengthened  ;  one  hundred  and  twenty  boats  and  scows, 
and  one  hundred  and  fifty  additional  cars,  were  con- 
structed, besides  many  changes  and  enlargements  made 
in  waste  weirs,  sluices,  and  tow-paths. 

In  charge  of  divisions,  Colonel  Ellet  had  to  assist  him 
in  arranging  and  carrying  out  his  plans,  Ellwood  Morris, 
Antes  Snyder,  and  James  F.  Smith,  Civil  Engineers  of 
skill  and  experience. 

The  author,  while  engaged  in  locating  the  Great  West- 
ern Railway  of  Canada,  and  what  is  now  the  Rochester 


270  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

and  Niagara  Falls  branch  of  the  New  York  Central  Rail- 
road, proposed  to  connect  them  by  a  railway  suspension 
bridge  over  the  Niagara  river,  between  the  Falls  and  the 
"  Whirlpool,77  where  the  chasm  was  about  eight  hundred 
feet  wide,  and  over  two  hundred  feet  deep.  As  the  pro-v 
ject  was  a  novel  and  bold  undertaking,  and  generally 
believed  to  be  impracticable,  a  circular  letter  was  addressed 
to  a  number  of  the  leading  Engineers  of  America  and 
Europe,  asking  their  opinion  of  the  undertaking.  Yarious 
replies  were  received,  some  in  open  condemnation  of  the 
project,  others  expressive  of  grave  doubts  of  its  practica- 
bility and  safety  at  any  cost. 

Charles  Ellet,  Jr.,  John  A.  Roebling,  Samuel  Keefer, 
and  Edward  W.  Serrell,  alone  favored  the  project,  and  it 
is  a  somewhat  remarkable  coincident  that  each  of  these 
Engineers  have  since  constructed  a  suspension  bridge  over 
the  Niagara  river,  below  the  Falls,  thus  demonstrating  the 
accuracy  of  their  early  faith.  The  following  letter  was 
received  from  Colonel  Ellet,  dated  Philadelphia,  October 
twelfth,  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-five : 

"In  the  case  which  you  have  presented,  I  can,  however, 
say  this  much  with  all  confidence  :  A  bridge  may  be  built 
across  the  Niagara  below  the  Falls,  which  will  be  entirely 
secure,  and  in  all  respects  fitted  for  railroad  uses.  It  will 
be  safe  for  the  passage  of  locomotive  engines  and  freight 
trains,  and  adapted  to  any  purpose  for  which  it  is  likely 
to  be  applied.  But  to  be  successful  it  must  be  judiciously 
designed,  and  properly  put  together  ;  there  are  no  safer 
bridges  than  those  on  the  suspension  principle,  if  built 
understandingly,  and  none  more  dangerous  if  constructed 


COLONEL  CHARLES  ELLET,  JR.  271 

with  an  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  their 
equilibrium.  To  build  a  bridge  at  Niagara  has  long  been 
a  favorite  scheme  of  mine.  Some  twelve  years  ago  I 
went  to  inspect  the  location,  with  a  view  to  satisfy  myself 
of  its  practicability,  and  I  have  never  lost  sight  of  the  pro- 
ject since.  I  do  not  know  in  the  whole  circle  of  profes- 
sional schemes  a  single  project  which  it  would  gratify  me 
so  much  to  conduct  to  completion." 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-six  a  Company  was 
chartered  by  the  Legislature  of  New  York  to  construct  a 
bridge  over  the  Niagara  river,  at  or  near  the  Falls,  with 
power  to  connect  with  any  other  Company  for  that  pur- 
pose. A  charter  with  similar  provisions  was  granted  to 
a  Company  in  Canada  by  the  Provincial  Parliament,  and 
approved  by  the  Home  Government.  After  repeated 
efforts,  made  during  this  and  the  following  year,  subscrip- 
tions to  the  capital  stock,  sufficient  to  warrant  the  com- 
mencement of  the  work,  were  secured,  and  soon  thereafter 
plans  and  estimates  were  invited.  The  following  letter 
relating  to  the  subject  was  written  by  Colonel  Ellet,  dated 
Philadelphia,  February  thirteenth,  eighteen  hundred  and 
forty-seven  : 

CHARLES  B.  STUART, 

Commissioner  of  the  Niagara  Bridge  Company. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  promised  to  give  you  my  views  of  the 
practicability  and  probable  cost  of  the  proposed  bridge 
across  Niagara  river  below  the  Falls.  Immediately  after 
inspecting  the  site,  in  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-five,  I 
gave  the  whole  subject  a  careful  investigation,  and  made  a 


272  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

fair,  but  not  extravagant,  estimate  of  the  cost  of  such  a 
structure  as  I  thought  would  be  appropriate  and  of 
adequate  strength. 

This  estimate  amounted  to  two  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  dollars  for  a  railroad  bridge  competent  to  sustain 
the  weight  of  locomotive  engines  and  heavy  freight  trains, 
and  one  hundred  and  ninety  thousand  dollars  for  one 
suitable  for  common  travel,  with  a  railway  track  in  the 
centre,  to  be  crossed  by  passenger  and  burthen  cars  drawn 
by  horses. 

When  I  made  my  estimate,  I  had  in  view  a  work  of  the 
first  order,  and  as  I  do  not  wish  to  be  in  any  way 
connected  with  one  of  a  lower  grade,  I  cannot  offer  to 
reduce  my  proposition.  But  I  will  now  repeat,  that  a 
secure,  substantial  and  beautiful  edifice,  not  one,  however, 
equal  to  the  claim  of  the  locality — for  nothing  can  match 
that — but  a  noble  work  of  art,  which  will  form  a  safe  and 
sufficient  connection  between  the  great  Canadian  and  the 
New  York  railways,  and  stand  firm  for  ages,  may  be 
erected  over  the  Niagara  river  for  the  latter  sum  named. 
If  it  should  be  built  by  me,  or  under  my  charge,  it  will 
cost  about  that  sum,  and  I  trust  it  will  be  worth  the 
money. 

With  my  best  wishes  for  the  success  of  the  enterprise  in 
all  its  magnificence, 

I  remain  dear  sir, 
Yours  truly, 

CHARLES  ELLET,  Jr., 

Civil  Engineer. 


COLONEL  CHARLES  ELLET,  JR.  273 

On  the  ninth  of  November,  eighteen  hundred  and  forty- 
seven,  the  Directors  of  the  American  and  the  Canadian 
Niagara  Bridge  Companies  made  a  contract  with  Charles 
Ellet7  Jr.,  for  the  construction  of  a  railway  and  carriage 
bridge  over  the  Niagara  river,  two  miles  below  the  Falls, 
for  the  sum  of  one  hundred  and  ninety  thousand  dollars. 
The  span  was  to  be  about  eight  hundred  feet,  and  twenty- 
eight  feet  in  width  between  parapets,  divided  as  follows  : 
Two  carriage-ways,  each  seven  and  one-half  feet,  two  foot- 
ways, each  four  feet  wide,  and  one  railway  track  in  the 
centre  of  the  floor.  Ultimate  strength  of  cables,  six 
thousand  five  hundred  tons.  Trains  not  to  exceed 
twenty-four  tons,  to  be  drawn  by  a  locomotive  of  about 
six  tons  weight.  The  towers  to  be  of  stone.  The  bridge 
to  be  tested  to  two  hundred  tons,  and  to  be  completed  by 
May  first,  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-nine. 

The  work  was  commenced  early  in  the  following  spring, 
by  the  erection  of  a  light  structure  of  nine  feet  wide, 
to  be  ,used  as  a  service  bridge  in  the  erection  of  the  main 
work,  and  was  also  used  for  a  foot-bridge  for  ten  months 
after  its  completion  in  the  following  July.  Its  cost  was 
about  thirty  thousand  dollars,  and  the  tolls  received 
during  this  time  amounted  to  nearly  five  thousand  dollars, 
notwithstanding  the  constant  interruption  to  travel  by 
the  progress  of  the  work.  This  bridge  was  strengthened  in 
the  summer  of  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-eight  sufficient 
to  accommodate  the  ordinary  travel  of  the  country  until 
the  completion  of  the  present  railway  bridge  in  eighteen 
hundred  and  fifty-five. 

In  the  summer  of  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-eight,  a 


274  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

difference  arose  between  the  contractor  and  the  Directors, 
respecting  the  application  of  the  tolls  taken  on  the  foot- 
bridge, which,  after  some  litigation,  ended  by  a  compro- 
mise, by  which  Ellet  relinquished  his  contract ;  and  his 
connection  with  the  work  terminated  on  the  twenty- 
seventh  of  December,  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-eight. 
The  following  letter  describes  the  first  basket  ride  over 
the  Niagara  by  the  daring  engineer,  a  faithful  sketch  of 
which  is  given  in  the  accompanying  engraving. 


ELLET'S  BASKET-RIDE  OVER  NIAGARA  RIVER. 

NIAGARA  FALLS,  March  13th,  1848. 

CHARLES  B.  STUART. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  raised  my  first  little  wire  cable  on 
Saturday,  and  anchored  it  securely  both  in  Canada  and 
New  York.  To-day  (Monday)  I  tightened  it  up,  and 
suspended  below  it  an  iron  basket  which  I  had  caused  to 
be  prepared  for  the  purpose,  and  which  is  attached  by 
pulleys  playing  along  the  top  of  the  cable. 

In    this    little    machine    I  crossed    over    to    Canada, 


COLONEL  CHARLES  ELLET,  JR.  275 

exchanged    salutations    with     our     friends    there,     and 
returned  again,  all  in  fifteen  minutes. 

The  wind  was  high  and  the  weather  cold,  but  yet  the 
trip  was  a  very  interesting  one  to  me — perched  up  as  I 
was  two  hundred  and  forty  feet  above  the  Rapids,  and 
viewing  from  the  centre  of  the  river  one  of  the  sublimest 
prospects  which  nature  has  prepared  on  this  globe  of  ours. 

My  little  machine  did  not  work  as  smoothly  as  I 
wished,  but  in  the  course  of  this  week  I  will  have  it  so 
adjusted  that  anybody  may  cross  in  safety. 

Truly  yours, 

CHARLES  ELLET,  Jr. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  forty -seven  and  eight  Colonel 
Ellet  constructed  a  wire  suspension  bridge  across  the 
Ohio  river  at  Wheeling,  remarkable  at  the  time  as  the 
longest  span  in  the  world — one  thousand  and  ten  feet. 
This  bridge  was  built  for  a  roadway  and  foot-bridge  ;  was 
twenty-four  feet  wide,  and  ninety-seven  feet  above  the 
low  water  in  the  river.  The  weight  of  the  bridge  was 
nine  hundred  and  twenty  pounds  per  lineal  foot,  sup- 
ported by  twelve  cables,  six  on  each  side,  with  an  aggre- 
gate number  of  wires  of  six  thousand  six  hundred,  num- 
ber ten,  Birmingham  gauge.  This  bridge  was  destroyed 
on  the  seventeenth  of  May,  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty- 
four,  by  a  violent  tempest  of  wind.  The  floor  was  torn 
by  the  force  of  the  wind  into  three  sections  j  the  eastern 
portion  measured  five  hundred  feet,  the  western  three 
hundred  feet,  leaving  the  central  part  about  two  hun- 
dred feet  long.  All  the  cables  but  two  broke  in  succes- 
sion from  the  anchorage;  one  cable,  composed  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  wires,  broke  in  the  centre. 


276  CIYIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-nine  Colonel  Ellet 
made  a  very  elaborate  report  on  a  railroad  suspension 
bridge  across  the  Connecticut  river  at  Middletown,  in 
which  he  discussed  with  much  minuteness  the  whole  sub- 
ject of  this  class  of  bridges.  The  span  he  proposed  was 
one  thousand  and  fifty  feet ;  the  floor  elevated  one  hun- 
dred and  forty  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  water. 

The  same  year  he  proposed  to  construct  a  suspension 
bridge  across  the  Ohio  at  Cincinnati,  with  a  single  span 
of  one  thousand  four  hundred  feet,  at  an  elevation  of 
one  hundred  and  twelve  feet.  The  proposed  height  of 
the  towers  was  two  hundred  and  thirty  feet  above  low 
water,  the  floor  to  be  suspended  from  twenty  wire 
cables,  each  four  inches  in  diameter — deflection  one  hun- 
dred feet,  width  twenty-six  feet,  permanent  weight  of 
bridge  eight  hundred  and  twelve  tons,  moving  load  four 
hundred  and  fifty  tons,  or  six  hundred  and  forty-three 
pounds  per  lineal  foot ;  estimated  cost,  three  hundred 
thousand  dollars. 

This  was  his  second  offer  to  construct  this  work,  in 
reference  to  which  he  remarks :  "It  is  now  nine  years 
since  I  gave  formal  assurance  to  many  of  your  citizens 
that  it  was  quite  within  the  present  state  of  art  and 
mechanical  knowledge,  to  throw  a  bridge  over  the  Ohio 
which  should  offer  no  obstruction  to  the  current,  nor 
appreciable  impediment  to  the  navigation.  I  cannot  say 
that  further  experience  has  strengthened  that  opinion, 
for  the  fact  was  susceptible  of  absolute  proof  then." 

In  the  same  year  he  contributed  to  the  Smithsonian 
Institute  a  very  interesting  and  valuable  manuscript,  on 


COLONEL  CHARLES  ELLET,  JR.  277 

the  physical  geography  of  the  Mississippi  Yalley,  with 
suggestions  for  the  improvement  of  the  navigation  of  the 
Ohio  and  other  rivers. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty,  Colonel  Ellet  was 
appointed  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Hempfield  Railroad,  a 
short  but  important  line,  connecting  the  city  of  Wheeling 
with  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  at  Greensburg.  While 
thus  engaged,  he  conducted,  on  the  part  of  the  city  of 
Wheeling,  the  controversy  in  regard  to  the  location  of 
the  western  division  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Rail- 
road, and  published  two  reports  in  which  he  supported 
the  "Grave  Creek  route,"  over  the  "  Fisk  Creek  route.'7 

Colonel  Ellet  passed  the  winter  of  eighteen  hundred 
and  forty-nine  and  fifty,  in  Washington,  in  the  endeavor  to 
obtain  from  Congress  a  small  appropriation  for  the  pur- 
pose of  testing  a  plan  for  the  improvement  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  Ohio  rivers,  by  means  of  reservoirs,  which 
had  become  a  favorite  project  of  his  life.  The  bill  passed 
the  Senate,  but  was  defeated  at  the  last  moment,  in  the 
House.  He  then  accepted  an  appointment  from  Mr. 
Conrad,  Secretary  of  War,  to  examine  into  the  floods  of 
the  Mississippi  river,  and  report  upon  their  causes,  as 
well  as  some  plan  for  the  prevention  of  their  destructive 
influence.  He  spent  the  winter  of  eighteen  hundred  and 
fifty-fifty- one,  in  a  close  examination  of  the  Lower  Mis- 
sissippi, its  channels  and  deltas,  and  made  many  orig- 
inal observations  upon  the  formation  of  the  bars  at  the 
mouth  of  the  river.  He  gave  the  results  of  his  labors  in 
a  report  to  the  War  Department.  This  report  he  after- 
wards incorporated  with  his  "Memoir  on  the  Ohio  River/7 


278  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

printed  by  the  Smithsonian  Institute,  entitled,  "  Ellet 
on  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  Rivers."  This  work  presents, 
with  its  author's  beauty  of  style,  and  originality  of 
thought,  the  plan  which  was,  in  his  estimation,  the  crown- 
ing conception  of  his  professional  career,  that  on  which  he 
rested  his  hopes  of  future  fame.  It  was  to  this  plan  of 
improving  the  navigation  of  the  great  rivers  of  the  coun- 
try, by  means  of  vast  reservoirs  erected  at  their  head- 
waters, by  which  the  surplus  water  of  the  seasons  of  floods 
might  be  stored  up,  to  be  set  free  in  the  droughts  of  sum- 
mer, that  he  devoted  his  most  earnest  thought,  until  his 
interest  was  diverted  from  every  subject  connected  with  his 
profession,  by  the  political  difficulties  of  the  country.  It 
was  certain  that  one  feature  of  this  comprehensive  plan, 
which  rendered  it  so  captivating  to  Colonel  Ellet's  mind 
and  heart,  was  its  general  utility  to  the  whole  country, 
tending  by  its  wide-spread  benefits,  to  draw  more  closely 
the  bonds  between  the  North  and  South. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-three  Colonel  Ellet 
accepted  the  position  of  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Central 
Virginia  Railroad,  and,  during  a  connection  of  some  years 
with  this  work,  had  occasion  to  familiarize  himself 
thoroughly  with  the  public  improvements  of  the  State  of 
Yirginia,  in  regard  to  many  of  which  he  was  consulted. 
In  order  to  bring  this  road  into  immediate  use,  while  wait- 
ing for  the  completion  of  a  long  tunnel  through  the  Blue 
Ridge,  he  constructed  a  temporary  track  across  the  moun- 
tain at  Rock  Fisk  Gap,  which,  from  its  steep  grades  and 
sharp  curves,  attracted  considerable  attention  from  Engi- 
neers at  home  and  abroad.  Maximum  grade  two  hun- 


COLONEL  CHARLES  ELLET,  JR.  279 

dred  and  ninety-six  feet  per  mile.     Least  radius  of  curva- 
ture two  hundred  and  thirty-four  feet. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-two  he  offered,  in  response 
to  a  call  from  the  citizens  of  Georgetown,  a  second  plan 
and  report  for  a  suspension  bridge  across  the  Potomac 
river. 

Colonel  Ellet  passed  the  years  of  eighteen  hundred  and 
fifty-four  and  fifty-five  in  Europe,  partly  in  the  service  of 
the  Virginia  Central  Railroad,  and  partly  on  account  of 
his  health.  He  took  a  lively  interest  in  the  Crimean 
War  ;  and  when  the  Russian  fleet  was  closely  blockaded 
by  the  Allies  in  the  harbor  of  Sebastopol  he  per- 
fected a  plan  for  destroying  ships  of  war  by  means  of 
steam  rams,  already  suggested  by  observations  upon  the 
usual  results  of  collisions  at  sea,  and  offered  it  to  the 
Russian  Government  at  a  time  when,  if  adopted,  it  must 
have  resulted  in  the  destruction  of  the  entire  Allied  fleet. 
Before  returning  to  the  United  States,  and  immediately 
afterwards,  in  view  of  the  possible  contingency  of  a  war 
with  Great  Britain,  Colonel  Ellet  wrote  several  letters  to 
the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  urging  his  plan  upon  the 
Department,  but,  failing  to  attract  other  attention  than  a 
courteous  acknowledgment,  he  issued  in  eighteen  hundred 
and  fifty-five  a  pamphlet,  entitled  "Coast  and  Harbor 
Defences,  or  the  Substitution  of  Steam  Battering  Rams  for 
Ships  of  War,"  addressed  to  Congress,  which  fully  justifies 
his  claim  to  be  considered  the  author. of  this  new  mode  of 
naval  warfare.  The  pamphlet  attracted  much  attention  at 
the  time,  particularly  in  the  Southern  States,  where  Colonel 
Ellet  was  well  known,  and  which  were  subsequently  the 


280  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

first  to  put  his  views  into  practice,  and  in  a  cause  opposed 
to  his  patriotic  sentiments  and  principles. 

On  his  return  from  Europe,  after  a  brief  residence  in 
Philadelphia  and  Richmond,  in  the  service  of  the  Virginia 
Central  Railroad,  he  settled  in  Washington  for  the  pur- 
pose of  carrying  a  bill  through  Congress  for  an  appropria- 
tion only  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  demonstrate,  on  a 
small  scale,  the  practicability  of  his  Reservoir  plan  for  the 
improvement  of  the  Mississippi  river.  He  had,  at  the 
opening  of  the  session,  every  hope  of  success;  but  Congress 
soon  became  so  absorbed  in  the  political  questions  of  the 
day,  that  he  found  it  impossible  to  accomplish  his  purpose. 
The  bill  passed  the  Senate,  as  before,  and  was  lost  in  the 
House.  He  then  retired  to  his  country  seat  on  the 
Heights  of  Georgetown,  but  was  called  from  thence,  in 
eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-eight,  to  survey  the  Great 
Kanawha,  with  a  view  to  ascertaining  the  applicability  of 
his  Reservoir  system  to  the  improvement  of  that  river. 

As  early  as  the  summer  of  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty- 
one  his  attention  was  attracted  by  references  in  the  South- 
ern newspapers  to  certain  vessels  in  course  of  construc- 
tion in  the  harbors  of  Norfolk,  Mobile,  and  New  Orleans, 
and  he  became  convinced  that  the  rebels  were  putting  into 
execution  his  plan  for  steam  battering  rarns.  He  en- 
deavored, by  a  series  of  letters  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  to  arouse  the  Department  to  a  sense  of  the  mena- 
cing danger,  and,  failing  in  this,  a  few  weeks  before  the 
naval  disaster  in  Hampton  Roads,  in  his  second  pamphlet, 
he  gave  a  startling  warning  in  regard  to  the  steamer  Mer- 
rimac  in  words  which  might  serve  as  a  description  of  her 
subsequent  deeds. 


COLONEL  CHARLES  ELLET,  JR.  281 

A  few  days  after  the  battle  of  Hampton  Roads,  on  the 
receipt  of  alarming  telegrams  from  the  West,  Colonel  Ellet 
was  commissioned  by  the  War  Department  to  do  what  he 
could,  speedily,  to  aid  and  protect  the  Mississippi  gun- 
boat squadron  against  a  fleet  of  rebel  rams,  understood  to 
be  advancing  up  the  river.  The  need  was  too  pressing  to 
admit  of  the  construction  of  boats.  In  six  weeks  Colonel 
Ellet  had  procured  and  so  strengthened  nine  ordinary 
river  steamboats  as  to  serve  temporarily  as  rams.  Of  this 
fleet  he  was  placed  in  independent  command,  with  the 
rank  of  Colonel,  and  proceeded  at  once  with  his  unfin- 
ished and  ill-protected  wooden  vessels  down  the  river. 
Detained  for  some  time  above  Fort  Pillow  by  the  unwil- 
lingness of  Commodore  Davis,  commander  of  the  gunboat 
squadron,  to  advance,  he  became  so  uneasy  lest  the  rebels 
should  desert  Forts  Pillow  and  Randolph,  that  he  pushed 
down  alone,  and,  taking  possession  of  the  forts,  found 
his  fears  realized,  the  rebels  having  retired  the  preceding 
night. 

On  the  sixth  of  June,  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty- 
two,  the  battle  of  Memphis  was  fought.  Colonel  Ellet 
had  given  orders  that  the  Stars  and  Stripes  at  the  mast- 
head of  his  flag-ship  should  be  the  signal  to  his  little  fleet 
to  follow  him  at  once  into  action.  On  that  morning ,  at 
the  first  shot  from  the  rebel  fleet  of  iron-clad  vessels  and 
rams,  Colonel  Ellet  hurried  on  deck  of  his  vessel,  the 
"  Queen  of  the  West,"  and  waving  his  hat  to  his  brother 
Alfred,  who  commanded  the  "  Monarch,"  next  in  order, 
he  caused  his  flag  to  be  run  up,  and  his  vessel  to  bear 
down  upon  the  foe.  The  "  Monarch  "  alone  obeyed  the 


282  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

signal,  and,  in  presence  of  both  fleets,  and  of  the  thousands 
of  spectators  who  lined  the  shores,  these  two  wooden 
boats  passed  through  an  iron  squadron,  and  selecting  two 
of  the  most  prominent  of  the  advancing  fleet,  ran  them 
down.  The  two  rebels  boats  sank — the  one  instantly,  the 
other  in  a  few  moments — with  all  their  living  freight  •  the 
"  Monarch"  was  uninjured  ;  the  "  Queen  of  the  West;'  re- 
ceived a  blow  which  rendered  it  necessary  for  her,  shortly, 
to  go  ashore.  The  results  of  the  engagement  were,  that 
of  the  eight  rebel  boats,  three  were  sunk  outright  by  his 
two  rams,  two  were  captured,  and  one  escaped  below  ;  the 
remaining  two  were  disabled  by  long  shots,  and  captured 
by  the  gunboats.  During  the  encounter  with  the  enemy, 
Colonel  Ellet  became  so  much  interested  in  the  practical 
illustration  of  his  theory,  and  so  anxious  to  witness  the 
result,  that  he  again  stepped  out  alone  upon  the  deck,  and 
received  a  pistol  shot  in  the  knee  from  the  hand  of  some 
one  on  the  sinking  ship  struck  by  the  "  Monarch."  His 
wound  was  not,  at  first,  deemed  serious.  He  sent  a  num- 
ber of  despatches  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  continued  in 
command  of  his  fleet,  and  sent  his  young  son,  with  three 
companions,  before  the  firing  had  ceased,  to  demand  the 
surrender  of  the  city,  and  to  replace  the  rebel  flag  upon 
the  post-office  by  his  own.  The  order  was  executed  with 
great  gallantry,  in  presence  of  a  large  and  hostile  crowd. 
In  the  course  of  a  few  days  it  became  evident  that  his 
feeble  frame  could  not  resist  the  effects  of  a  wound  which 
would  have  proved  fatal  to  a  stronger  constitution. 
Colonel  Ellet  was  transferred  from  his  flag-ship  to  the 
"  Switzerland,"  and,  even  when  sinking  under  the  heat  of 


COLONEL  CHARLES  ELLET,  JR.  283 

the  climate,  and  assured  by  his  physicians  that  his  only 
hope  of  recovery  lay  in  a  prompt  removal,  he  refused  to 
have  the  vessel  turned  back  for  his  accommodation  until 
he  ceased  to  notice  external  things,  when  his  brother 
Alfred,  who  had  taken  temporary  command,  had  the 
course  of  the  boat  directed  up  the  river.  He  was  taken 
to  Cairo,  at  which  point,  on  the  twenty-first  of  June, 
eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-two,  surrounded  by  his  family, 
who  had  been  able  to  join  him,  he  breathed  his  last,  so 
peacefully  that  it  was  truly  a  "  falling  asleep." 

Great  as  was  his  professional  reputation  and  his  fame 
as  a  soldier  and  patriot,  it  will  never  exceed  the  high 
regard  in  which  he  was  held  by  those  who  were  favored 
by  his  intimate  acquaintance  and  friendship.  Colonel 
Ellet  possessed  many  sterling  qualities.  His  whole 
conduct  was  governed  by  a  high  sense  of  integrity  and 
honor.  His  friendship  was  reliable  and  unselfish.  When 
wronged,  his  pride  was  quickly  aroused,  even  to  an 
appearance  of  conceit,  which,  however,  could  be  attributed 
to  strong  convictions  of  being  right,  and  a  consciousness  of 
superiority  over  those  by  whom  he  was  unjustly  treated. 

In  personal  appearance  Colonel  Ellet  was  tall,  spare 
in  figure,  but  commanding  in  presence.  His  eyes  dark 
and  piercing,  and  when  aroused  in  a  controversy  that 
called  out  the  energies  of  his  mind,  his  eloquence  was 
like  a  mountain  torrent,  carrying  away  every  opposing 
obstacle.  In  his  domestic  relations  no  one  could  have 
been  more  happy.  His  devotion  to  his  excellent  and 
accomplished  wife  knew  no  bounds,  while  his  tenderness 
to  his  children  was  excessive. 


284  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

His  accomplished  daughter  writes:  "  As  for  the  dear 
task  of  giving  a  sketch  of  my  late  father's  domestic  life,  I 
am  utterly  unfit  for  it  now.     You,  who  knew  him  only  as 
men  could  know,  will  yet  understand,  when  I  say  that 
to   me    he    is    the    embodiment  of    all  that    is    noble, 
gentle,  generous  and  great.     You  say  rightly  that,  in  the 
social  and  domestic  sphere,  he  was  as  distinguished  as  in 
his  professional   life.      He   has   left  by  his  pen    and   his 
public  works  a  record  that  must  one  day  establish  his  fame 
before  the   world,    but  it   was   at  home,   as  a  parent,  a 
husband,  and  a  friend,  that  his  superiority  over  other  men 
was  most  manifest.     Our  household  was  truly,  as  I  have 
often  heard  it  called,   a  home  of  love.     You  must  have 
known  something  of  his  devotion  to  my  mother — a  feeling 
the   mainspring   of   his    whole  life — my   mother ,    whose 
cheek  he  would  not  have  the  *  winds  of  heaven  visit  too 
roughly/     His  tenderness  to  his  children  exceeded  any- 
thing that  I  have  ever  known.     Indifferent,  almost  averse, 
to  society,  he  lived  in  his  little   home  circle,  his  office  was 
the  family  sitting-room,  he  wrote  his  most  labored  works 
and  carried  on  his  most  abstruse  calculations  with  his  wife 
beside  him,  and  his  little  children  climbing  on  his  chair. 
In  sickness  he  was  their  kindest  nurse,  in  every  difficulty 
their  tenderest  friend — they  played  with  him,  sought  his 
counsel,  displayed  for  him  each  little  accomplishment,  and 
obeyed  him  with  a  passionate  love  that  had  in  it  little  or 
nothing  of  fear. 

"  I  do  not  think  he  ever  expected  to  live  through  the 
war.  At  the  very  outset  he  made  his  will,  as  we  subse- 
quently learned,  leaving  everything  he  possessed  to  his 


COLONEL  CHARLES  ELLET,  JR.  285 

beloved  wife,  for  the  express  purpose,  as  he  states,  of 
making  their  children  dependent  upon  her  for  their  means 
of  support.  I  shall  never  forget  one  evening  when  I 
urged  upon  him  the  question  of  the  unfortunate  termi- 
nation of  the  Union.  At  first  he  refused  to  consider  such 
a  possibility,  and  when  I  pressed  it  upon  him  he  said, 
with  a  look  that  silenced  me  :  *  At  least  I  shall  not  live  to 
see  it.7 " 

Colonel  Ellet  left  two  sons  ;  the  oldest,  Charles  Rivers 
Ellet,  whose  youth  gave  every  promise  of  a  brilliant  man- 
hood, was  with  his  father  at  the  battle  of  Memphis  and  won 
great  credit.  Immediately  after  his  father's  death  he 
received  the  appointment  of  Colonel  of  the  Ram  Fleet, 
though  barely  eighteen  years  of  age,  and  in  that  com- 
mand achieved  feats  of  gallantry  which  made  his  name 
and  fame  celebrated  along  the  Mississippi,  having  run  his 
wooden  vessels  twice  past  the  batteries  of  Yicksburgh. 
His  health  was  undermined  by  the  climate,  and  he  died  at 
the  early  age  of  nineteen.  The  other  son  is  a  promising 
boy,  still  at  school. 


SAMUEL   FORRER, 

SURVEYOR  AND  CIVIL  ENGINEER. 


SAMUEL  FORRER  was  born  in  Dauphin  County,  Pennsyl- 
vania, January  seventeenth,  eighteen  hundred  and  ninety- 
three.  His  parents,  Christian  and  Elizabeth  Forrer,  were 
also  natives  of  that  State.  When  Samuel  was  three  years 
old,  his  father  removed  to  Virginia  and  purchased  a  large 
farm  in  the  Shenandoah  Yalley.  On  this  property  there 
was  a  flouring  and  a  saw-mill,  to  which  his  father  added 
wool-carding  machinery. 

After  receiving  such  an  education  as  boys  usually 
obtain  in  ordinary  country  schools,  he  was  employed  on 
the  farm  or  in  the  mills,  as  necessity  or  inclination 
directed,  and  being  of  a  mechanical  turn  of  mind,  he 
acquired  considerable  skill  in  mill-wright  work  and 
machine  building,  which  afterwards  was  very  useful  to  him 
in  his  profession  as  a  civil  engineer. 

When  twenty-one  years  of  age  he  visited  Ohio,  but 
soon  after  returned  home,  where  he  remained  until 
eighteen  hundred  and  seventeen,  when  he  removed  to 
Dayton,  Ohio,  which  has  since  been  his  place  of  residence. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  eighteen  Mr.  Forrer  was  ap- 
pointed Deputy  Surveyor  of  Hamilton  County,  Ohio,  and 


SAMUEL  FORRER.  287 

also  Deputy  Surveyor  under  Colonel  Richard  C.  Anderson, 
Principal  Surveyor  of  the  Virginia  Military  District  of 
Ohio.  In  this  capacity  he  was  employed  during  the 
winter  of  eighteen  hundred  and  eighteen  and  nineteen, 
in  surveying  through  the  Wilderness  the  military  lands 
north  of  the  Greenville  line,  which  service  was  attended 
with  great  labor  and  exposure.  Mr.  Forrer  was  not  only 
one  of  the  pioneer  surveyors  of  Ohio,  but  has  since  and 
for  many  years  been  honorably  identified  with  the  engi- 
neering connected  with  the  public  works  of  that  State. 
So  early  as  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty.  Mr.  Forrer 
made  his  first  attempt  at  civil  engineering  by  examining 
the  summit  between  the  Sciota  and  San  dusky  rivers,  to 
ascertain  the  feasibility  of  uniting  the  waters  of  Lake 
Erie  and  the  Ohio  river,  by  means  of  a  navigable  canal. 
This  survey  was  made  at  the  request  and  expense  of 
"William  Steel,  of  Cincinnati,  who  communicated  the 
result  to  the  General  Assembly  of  Ohio,  which  resulted  in 
the  appointment  of  a  Board  of  Commissioners  in  eighteen 
hundred  and  twenty-two,  with  authority  "  to  employ  a 
competent  and  experienced  engineer  to  make  a  survey 
and  estimate  for  a  canal  to  connect  Lake  Erie  with  the 
Ohio  river." 

The  Hon.  James  G-eddes,  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
was  employed  by  the  Board,  with  Isaac  Jerome,  an 
experienced  engineer  of  that  State,  as  Assistant.  Mr. 
Forrer  was  advised  by  Governor  Brown — one  of  the 
Board  of  Commissioners — to  join  the  Engineer  Corps  in 
any  situation  that  might  offer.  He  accordingly  accepted 
the  position  of  a  junior  rodman,  with  a  compensation  of 


288  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

only  nine  dollars  per  month.  In  a  short  time  the  senior 
rodman  was  taken  ill,  and  left  the  party,  when  Mr. 
Forrer  was  advanced  to  his  place.  Soon  thereafter  Mr. 
Jerome  was  taken  ill  with  the  prevailing  fever  of  the 
country  and  returned  home,  when  Mr.  Forrer  was  pro- 
moted to  the  position  of  Assistant  Engineer,  and  during 
the  two  following  years  he  was  almost  constantly  engaged 
in  running  experimental  lines  for  the  canal. 

In  July,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-five,  the  Ohio 
canals  were  commenced  under  the  charge  of  the  Hon. 
David  S.  Bates  as  Chief  Engineer.  Mr.  Forrer  was 
employed  as  Resident  Engineer  in  charge  of  the  work  on 
the  Miami  and  Erie  Canal.  He  continued  in  the  service 
of  the  State  until  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-one,  during 
which  time  he  located  the  whole  of  the  Miami  and  Erie 
Canal  and  its  branches,  and  a  great  portion  of  the  Ohio 
Canal. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-two  Mr.  Forrer  was 
appointed  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Canal  Commis- 
sioners, and  continued  in  that  position  three  years.  The 
Board  was  then  abolished,  and  a  Board  of  Public  Works 
created  in  its  stead  by  the  Legislature  of  Ohio,  of  which 
he  was  a  member  for  several  years. 

Not  only  was  he  exceedingly  useful  in  this  capacity,  but 
by  his  zeal,  general  intelligence,  and  force  of  character,  he 
contributed  largely  to  the  promotion  of  the  canal 
system,  and  was  a  valuable  co-laborer  with  the  men  of 
that  period,  who  shaped  the  policy  of  the  State  and  laid 
the  foundations  of  her  commercial  institutions.  With  the 
present  financial  strength  of  Ohio — so  great  that  the 


SAMUEL  FORRER.  289 

annual  tax  for  State  expenses  alone  amount  to  nearly 
twenty-five  millions  of  dollars,  and  the  total  valuation  of 
taxable  property  twelve  hundred  millions — it  can  scarcely 
be  conceived  that  as  late  as  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty- 
two  the  Board  of  Commissioners  deemed  it  necessary  to 
inquire,  in  the  gravest  manner,  of  the  highest  financial 
authorities  in  New  York,  if  in  all  the  money  markets  of 
the  world  a  loan  of  three  millions  of  dollars,  for  thirty 
years,  on  the  pledged  faith  of  the  State,  could  be  nego- 
tiated for  the  purpose  of  connecting  the  Lakes  with  the 
Ohio  river. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-eight  Mr.  Forrer  was 
appointed  by  the  State  of  Indiana  Consulting  Engineer, 
with  Sylvester  Welch,  then  Chief  Engineer  of  the  State  of 
Kentucky,  for  the  consideration  of  important  engineering 
questions  connected  with  a  general  system  of  internal  im- 
provements, contemplated  by  that  State.  Their  report 
and  recommendations  were  adopted  by  the  State  Legisla- 
ture, and  the  works  constructed  in  accordance  therewith. 

Mr.  Forrer's  sound  judgment,  practical  sense,  and  high 
reputation  for  probity  and  fairness,  induced  the  reference 
to  him  for  decision  of  many  questions  of  a  professional 
nature,  not  only  in  Ohio,  but  in  adjoining  States.  His 
decision  and  advice  were  usually  the  end  of  a  contro- 
versy. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-nine  Mr.  Forrer  was  for 
some  time  engaged  in  making  the  surveys  for  the  location 
of  the  Ohio  Central  Railroad,  from  Zanesville  to  Wheeling, 
through  a  country,  although  not  mountainous,  yet  so 
broken  into  hills  and  valleys,  many  of  them  of  consider- 


290  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

able  magnitude,  as  to  require  great  skill  and  judgment  in 
selecting  the  most  favorable  route.  Mr.  Forrer  greatly 
excelled  as  a  Locating  Engineer,  a  duty  more  suited  to 
his  tastes  and  talents  than  the  details  of  construction. 
Those  most  familiar  with  his  qualifications  have  expressed 
the  opinion  that,  in  the  peculiar  trait  which  grasps  almost 
intuitively  the  topographical  formation  of  a  region  of 
country,  its  capabilities  and  possibilities  for  a  canal  or 
railroad  location,  Mr.  Forrer  had  no  superior. 

In  the  projection  of  several  of  the  railroads  in  the  west- 
ern part  of  Ohio,  centring  at  Dayton,  Mr.  Forrer  was 
engaged  in  their  preliminary  surveys  and  locations,  and 
rendered  important  service  in  shaping  and  giving  direc- 
tion to  those  improvements.  He  was  uniformly  esteemed 
as  a  safe  and  reliable  engineer,  and  as  such  exercised  a 
controlling  influence  in  all  general  movements  in  regard 
to  many  of  the  early  public  works  of  the  West. 

Mr.  Forrer  also  located  several  turnpikes  leading  out  of 
Dayton  and  Cincinnati,  and  in  other  parts  of  Ohio.  He 
was  at  one  time  a  contractor  on  the  Wabash  Canal,  in 
Indiana,  and  also  on  the  Pacific  Railroad  in  Missouri. 
He  was  always  noted  for  his  agreeable  and  attractive 
social  qualities,  and  his  manly  bearing.  His  manners, 
though  plain,  were  characterized  by  greafr  dignity  and 
gentleness.  His  nature  is  full  of  kindness  and  benevo- 
lence. Sickness  and  suffering,  so  common  in  the  families 
of  laborers  on  the  public  works  in  the  West,  during  their 
construction,  never  met  his  observation  without  an  effort 
for  its  relief.  He  could  frequently  be  seen  in  the  rude 
and  transient  abodes  of  the  laborers,  relieving  their  afflic- 


SAMUEL  FORRER.  291 

tions  by  his  sympathy  and  bounty.  Generosity  is  a  marked 
trait  in  his  character,  as  shown  in  his  large  contributions 
to  charitable  objects,  and  liberal  aid  to  relatives  and 
friends. 

It  is  generally  deemed  presumptuous  to  portray  the 
character  of  the  living,  or  anticipate  their  position  with 
posterity.  There  are,  however,  exceptions  to  this  rule. 
Of  this  number  may  be  ranked  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
who,  at  nearly  fourscore  years,  has  retired  from  the  active 
duties  of  his  profession,  to  accept  the  responsible  and  hon- 
orable position  of  Consulting  Engineer  to  the  Board  of 
Public  Works  of  his  adopted  State. 

The  following  letter  from  the  Hon.  Jesse  L.  Williams, 
of  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana,  dated  Dayton,  Ohio,  April 
twelfth,  eighteen  hundred  and  seventy-one,  explains  itself, 
and  will  be  a  sufficient  apology  for  its  introduction  here  : 

"  I  was  to-day  an  hour  with  Mr.  Samuel  Forrer  at  his 
house.  He  is  in  a  feeble  state.  Paralysis  has  been  grad- 
ually coming  on,  which  affects  somewhat  his  speech  and 
strength  of  body.  Yet  his  intellect  is  unimpaired.  He  is 
still  the  Consulting  Engineer,  and  chief  dependence,  pro- 
fessionally, of  the  Ohio  State  Board  of  Public  Works, 
especially  as  to  everything  relating  to  the  Miami  and  Erie 
Canal,  for  the  enlargement  of  which  work  he  has  lately 
submitted  an  estimate.  He  attends  all  meetings  of  the 
Board  at  Columbus.  His  age  is  seventy-eight  years.  I 
was  gratified  in  having  an  opportunity,  probably  the  last 
one,  of  conversing  with  so  good  a  man,  so  near  the  close 
of  a  useful  life." 

Several  circumstances  have  prevented  the  collection  of 


292  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

many  interesting  incidents  in  the  history  of  this  very 
worthy  Engineer,  but  the  compiler  of  these  pages  relating 
to  him  has  much  satisfaction  in  making  this  brief  record 
of  a  life  so  honorably  and  usefully  spent. 


WILLIAM   STUART   WATSON, 

CIVIL    ENGINEER. 


THE  utility  of  the  Civil  Engineer  in  promoting  the 
advancement  of  civilization,  and  the  progress  of  commer- 
cial convenience  and  social  comfort,  is  an  accepted  reality. 
By  his  aid  the  canal  and  railroad  have  advanced  our  "  Star 
of  Empire  "  beyond  the  frontier  that  bounds  our  growing 
civilization,  and  shortened,  by  improved  methods  of  tran- 
sit, our  old  lines  of  commerce,  and  opened  new  ones,  and 
through  his  skill  devised  the  elegant  comfort  enjoyed  by 
the  modern  traveller. 

Though  still  below  the  middle  age  of  life,  Mr.  "Watson 
has  borne  a  full  share  of  the  duties  belonging  to  his  pro- 
fession. From  the  simple  duty  of  rodman  he  has  steadily 
risen  through  the  various  grades  of  Assistant,  Chief,  and 
Consulting  Engineer. 

William  Stuart  Watson  was  born  in  Dumfries,  Scotland, 
on  the  fourteenth  day  of  March,  eighteen  hundred  and 
twenty-seven,  and  commenced  his  education  with  a  view 
to  his  future  profession,  at  Aberdeen.  When  twelve  years 
of  age  he  came  with  his  father  to  this  country,  and  settled 
with  the  family  in  Miami  County,  in  the  State  of  Ohio. 
His  father  remained  in  this  country  but  a  few  years, 


294  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

returning  with  his  family,  excepting  William  Stuart,  to 
take  possession  of  a  valuable  property  which  he  inherited 
on  the  death  of  his  father  in  eighteen  hundred  and  forty- 
six. 

Mr.  Watson  commenced  his  professional  life  at  the  early 
age  of  sixteen,  as  rodman  on  the  Ohio  canals,  one  of  the 
schools  which  have  given  us  many  of  our  most  accom- 
plished Civil  Engineers. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-eight,  then  an  Assistant 
Engineer,  he  returned  to  Scotland,  and  remained  at  his 
ancestral  home  for  several  months.  On  his  return  to  this 
country  he  secured  employment  under  that  sterling  man 
and  eminent  Engineer,  Daniel  Marsh,  on  the  G-enesee 
Valley  Canal,  where  he  remained  until  eighteen  hundred 
and  fifty,  when  he  removed  to  Buffalo,  and  was  engaged 
as  Assistant  Engineer  on  the  Erie  Canal  enlargement. 

The  following  year  he  was  employed  as  Assistant  by 
William  Wallace,  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Buffalo  and  Lake 
Huron  Railroad  ;  and  in  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-two, 
in  the  same  capacity,  under  the  late  Rosewell  Gr.  Benedict, 
on  the  Great  Western  Railway  of  Canada. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-three,  being  then  but 
twenty-six  years  old,  he  received  the  appointment  of 
Chief  Engineer  of  the  Baltimore  and  Pittsburgh  Railroad. 
After  making  the  preliminary  surveys  of  a  route  for  this 
railroad,  he  was  induced  to  accompany  Theodore  D.  Judah, 
a  young  Engineer  of  great  promise,  since  deceased,  then  ; 
Chief  Engineer  of  the  Pacific  Railroad,  to  California,  in 
the  capacity  of  First  Assistant,  where  he  aided  in  making 
the  first  surveys  of  the  present  railroad  route  to  the 


WILLIAM  STUART  WATSON.  295 

Pacific.  At  the  close  of  this  survey  he  received  the 
appointment  of  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Placer  Company 
Canal.  On  the  successful  completion  of  this  work  he 
entered  the  service  of  the  Frenchtown  Canal  Company  in 
the  same  capacity. 

From  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-four  to  eighteen 
hundred  and  sixty-eight,  besides  occupying  the  position 
of  Chief  Engineer  on  the  California  Northern,  Sacramento 
Yalley,  California  Central,  Yuba,  San  Francisco  and 
Central  Pacific,  San  Francisco  and  Humboldt  Bay,  and 
Stockton  and  Copperopolis  railroads,  he  had  charge,  as 
Chief  or  Consulting  Engineer,  of  nearly  all  the  large 
mining  canals,  aggregating  several  thousand  miles  in 
length,  and  costing  many  millions  of  dollars,  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  State. 

Successful,  as  he  invariably  has  been,  as  a  railroad 
engineer,  his  greatest  achievements  have  been  in  hydraulic 
mining  works.  Many  of  these  exhibit  an  originality  of 
design  and  boldness  of  execution,  such  only  as  the  singular 
topography  of  that  wonderful  State  of  mountains  and 
minerals  could  demand. 

The  works  of  the  North  Fork  Hydraulic  Company,  five 
miles  in  length,  were  constructed  by  him  in  eighteen 
hundred  and  fifty-seven.  About  ten  thousand  feet  of  this 
construction  is  of  wrought-iron  pipe  twenty  inches  in 
diameter,  carried  through  a  mountain  gap  nine  hundred 
and  twelve  feet  deep,  and  conveying  two  million  two 
hundred  and  forty  thousand  cubic  feet  of  water  in  twenty- 
four  hours.  The  Cascade  Canal  Company's  works,  another 
of  his  successful  engineering  enterprises,  is  twelve  miles 


296  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

in  length,  with  six  miles  of  flames.  This  canal  is  carried 
through  one  of  the  most  formidable  canons  in  the  State  ; 
and  portions  of  the  aqueduct,  and  some  of  the  flumes,  are 
suspended  along  the  rocky  sides  of  the  stream,  three 
hundred  feet  above  the  water. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-eight  he  carried  out 
successfully  an  enterprise  for  the  California  Fluming  Com- 
pany. This  project  consisted  in  emptying  the  bed  of 
Feather  river,  a  mile  in  length,  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
two  feet  wide  at  low  water,  and  forty-six  feet  deep,  by 
the  means  of  dams  and  flumes.  The  main  dam  was  three 
hundred  and  twelve  feet  long  on  top,  and  ninety-seven 
feet  long  on  the  bed  of  the  stream.  It  was  constructed 
of  a  crib  work  of  timber  filled  with  stone,  A  flume  was 
built  one  mile  in  length,  forty-seven  feet  wide  and  ten 
feet  deep,  and  contained  two  million  five  hundred  thousand 
feet  of  lumber,  and  discharged  for  a  period  of  ninety-four 
days,  twenty-nine  million  seven  hundred  and  seventy-nine 
thousand  two  hundred  cubic  feet  of  water  per  hour.  The 
portion  of  the  river,  the  bed  of  which  was  to  be  mined  (one 
mile  in  length),  was  pumped  dry  by  chain  pumps  worked 
by  undershot  wheels  thirty  feet  in  diameter,  driven  by  the 
water  in  the  main  flume,  the  current  of  which  moved  at 
the  rate  of  twelve  miles  per  hour.  The  time  occupied  in 
removing  the  water  was  fourteen  and  one-half  days.  The 
"  working  out "  of  this  portion  of  the  bed  of  the  river 
required  the  labor  of  six  hundred  men  for  thirty-one  days. 
The  total  cost  of  this  project  was  three  hundred  and 
sixteen  thousand  dollars. 

Mr.  Watson's  latest  engineering  exploit  was  completed 


WILLIAM  STUART  WATSON.  297 

on  the  last  day  of  December,  eighteen  hundred  and 
seventy.  This  work  presents  some  novel  features,  and 
required  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  laws  that  govern 
Hydrodynamics,  and  great  skill  and  caution  in  its  con- 
struction. 

The  object  was  to  furnish  water  from  the  Feather  river, 
for  mining  operations  at  Cherokee,  in  Butre  County,  Cali- 
fornia. The  topography  of  the  country  presented  some 
very  formidable  obstacles  to  be  overcome. 

The  Cherokee  mines  consist  of  a  considerable  portion 
of  a  bed  of  auriferous  washed  gravel,  one  hundred  feet 
deep,  underlying  trap  rock,  and  is  about  eighteen  miles 
in  length  by  six  miles  in  breadth,  and  lies  at  an  elevation 
of  about  one  thousand  and  seventy-five  feet  above  the 
main  valley  of  the  Sacramento  at  Oroville. 

These  mines  have  been  worked  for  several  years,  and 
very  profitably,  with  the  scanty  supply  of  water  that  could 
be  collected  during  the  rainy  season.  This  supply  lasting 
only  about  thirty  days  in  the  year.  The  industrious  and 
hardy  proprietors  of  these  claims  saw  that  the  only 
obstacle  that  lay  between  them  and  large  fortunes  was  a 
sufficient  supply  of  water,  and  with  this  knowledge,  and 
faith  in  proper  engineering  skill,  they  applied  to  Mr. 
Watson  for  his  professional  aid  as  early  as  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  fifty-eight.  After  a  careful  survey,  he  decided 
that  the  project  was  entirely  practicable,  and  could  be 
successfully  carried  out  at  a  cost  that  would  afford  a  large 
return  on  the  estimated  outlay.  But  capitalists  viewed 
the  project,  and  its  means  of  accomplishment,  as  too 
chimerical,  and  declined  the  solicited  aid.  The  confident 


298  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

miners,  disappointed  but  not  disheartened,  kept  steadily 
at  work,  confident  that  time  would  bring  about  a  full 
realization  of  their  plans  and  hopes.  In  eighteen  hundred 
and  sixty-nine  these  mines  were  capitalized  at  six  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  Work  was  commenced  in  May,  eighteen 
hundred  and  seventy,  and  brought  to  a  perfectly  successful 
conclusion  on  the  last  day  of  the  year.  The  extraordinary 
wealth  of  these  auriferous  beds,  as  well  as  many  others  in 
that  State,  may  be  better  comprehended  when  we  are 
assured  by  Mr.  Watson  that  the  entire  outlay  on  this 
work  will  be  repaid,  from  the  profits  of  the  mines,  by  the 
first  of  July,  eighteen  hundred  and  seventy-one. 

These  mines  are  situated  on  a  table  of  land  on  the  east 
side  of,  and  one  thousand  and  seventy-three  feet  above, 
the  main  valley  of  the  Sacramento.  This  elevation  is 
separated  on  the  north  from  a  spur  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas 
by  a  canon  nearly  one  thousand  feet  deep,  in  the  bottom 
of  which  flows  the  West  Branch,  a  tributary  of  the  Feather 
river.  Coming  from  the  north,  the  Feather  river  passes 
on  the  east  side,  and  sweeps  around  the  south  end  of  the 
mountain,  at  the  bottom  of  a  deep  gulf.  This  spur  of 
mountain  thus  stands  over  a  thousand  feet  above  the  val- 
ley and  streams  in  the  vicinity. 

The  plan  devised  by  Mr.  Watson  was  to  take  water 
from  the  Feather  river  at  an  elevation,  in  the  Sierra 
Nevadas,  sufficiently  high  to  secure  a  flow  to  the  mines  ; 
about  fourteen  miles  up  the  west  side  of  the  Feather  river 
he  constructed  a  dam  and  reservoir  of  a  capacity  of  seven 
hundred  and  eighty-eight  million  four  hundred  thousand 
cubic  feet.  In  order  to  convey  the  water  to  the  mines, 


WILLIAM  STUART  WATSON.  299 

the  West  Branch  was  to  be  crossed.  From  the  reservoir 
to  the  tank  on  the  north  side  of  the  West  Branch  he  con- 
veyed the  water  in  an  open  canal  of  a  cross  section  of 
fifteen  feet,  and  with  a  grade  of  twelve  feet  per  mile. 
From  the  tank  mentioned  above,  the  water  is  conveyed  in 
iron  pipes  down  the  declivity  nine  hundred  and  seventeen 
feet,  and  across  the  stream  on  a  bridge  constructed  for  the 
purpose,  and  up  to  the  grade  line  of  the  canal,  and  the 
tank  or  reservoir  on  the  opposite  side.  This  iron  tube  is 
twelve  thousand  three  hundred  and  forty-five  feet  in 
length,  and  thirty  inches  in  diameter.  From  this  lower 
reservoir  it  is  conveyed  by  smaller  pipes  to  the  various 
parts  of  the  mine. 

The  main  tube  is  constructed  of  wrought  iron,  of 
varying  thickness,  and  in  lengths  of  twenty-three  feet,  the 
joints  being  riveted  on  the  ground  with  hot  rivets.  This 
tube  is  laid  in  a  trench  cut  entirely  through  solid  rock,  five 
feet  deep,  and  carefully  covered  with  earth. 

The  course  of  the  tube  forms  an  inverted  siphon  ;  the 
pipe,  previous  to  being  laid,  is  steeped  in  a  bath  composed 
of  equal  parts  of  asphaltum  and  coal-tar,  kept  at  boiling 
heat  until  the  surface  and  seams  are  thoroughly  coated. 

This  process  was  adopted  in  the  preparation  of  the 
pipes  for  the  water  supply  of  San  Francisco,  and  after 
ten  years'  use  they  are  found  to  be  as  perfect  as  when 
laid  down. 

A  calculation  shows  the  pressure  at  the  bottom  section 
of  the  pipe  to  be  very  great,  amounting  to  three  hundred 
and  ninety-seven  pounds  per  square  inch,  and  the  capacity 
of  delivery,  when  under  full  head,  is  forty  cubic  feet  per 
second. 


300  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

The  thickness  of  iron  at  nine  hundred  feet  depth,  is 
three-eighths  of  an  inch  ;  at  eight  hundred  and  forty-five 
feet,  five-sixteenths  ;  at  six  hundred,  one-quarter  ;  at  four 
hundred  and  twenty-five,  three-sixteenths  ;  at  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  feet,  number  ten  wire  gauge  ;  at  three 
hundred  feet  number  eleven  ;  at  two  hundred  and 
seventy -five  feet,  number  twelve  ;  and  at  one  hundred 
and  fifty  and  upwards,  number  fourteen. 

To  provide  for  the  escape  of  air  and  over-pressure  that 
might  enter  the  tube,  a  "stand-pipe"  is  erected  fifty  feet 
from  the  inlet ;  there  are  also,  for  the  same  purpose, 
valves,  seven  in  number,  placed  at  various  points  along 
the  tops  of  the  pipes  ;  and  three  "blow  off"  pipes,  one 
at  each  depression  of  the  tube. 

Though  no  new  principle  in  hydraulics  has  been 
employed  in  this  work,  yet  the  magnitude  of  the 
undertaking  has  no  precedent  in  civil  engineering,  and 
establishes  the  feasibility  of  extensive  water  supply, 
economically,  and  in  a  manner  heretofore  considered 
impracticable. 

Mr.  Watson  is  still  in  middle  life,  and,  with  his  profes- 
sional attainments  and  past  experience,  has  every  prospect 
of  accomplishing  works  of  still  greater  magnitude  and 
usefulness.  It  is  difficult  to  form  a  proper  estimate  of 
the  influence  of  the  accomplished  works  of  modern 
engineering,  or  the  progress  of  future  undertakings.  It  is 
of  the  latent  kind,  and  exercises  its  power  in  a  silent  way, 
but  with  a  progressive  tendency. 


JOHN  A.  ROEBLING, 

CIVIL  ENGINEER. 


THE  name  of  John  A.  Roebling  will  always  take  high 
rank  among  the  Engineers  of  America.  He  was  one  of 
many  of  our  foreign-born  citizens  who  have,  by  their 
genius  and  learning,  adorned  and  reflected  honor  on  the 
country  of  their  adoption.  He  was  a  man  of  whom  the 
engineering  profession  may  justly  be  proud.  His  name, 
with  eminent  fitness,  may  take  a  conspicuous  place  with 
the  most  honorable  and  zealous  in  the  work  of  internal 
improvement  and  human  progress. 

The  life  of  Roebling  was  one  of  study  and  labor — a 
life  too  soon  terminated.  He  died  just  after  entering 
upon  the  development  of  one  of  the  grandest  conceptions 
of  his  professional  career.  But  were  men's  lives  measured 
by  what  they  accomplish,  by  the  good  they  have  done,  he 
lived  more  than  most  men  who  see  a  greater  number  of 
years. 

John  A.  Roebling  was  born  on  the  twelfth  of  June, 
eighteen  hundred  and  six,  in  the  city  of  Mulhausen, 
Prussia.  After  the  usual  academical  course  he  was  sent  to 
the  Royal  Polytechnic  School  in  Berlin  to  complete  his 
education  as  a  Civil  Engineer.  His  scholastic  career  was 


301 


302  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

marked  by  an  unusually  brilliant  progress  in  the  study  of 
his  profession,  and  at  its  close  he  received  the  highest 
honors  of  his  class.  This  institution  being  under  the 
patronage  of  the  Government,  the  State  claimed  his 
services  for  three  years,  and  he  was  sent  to  superintend 
the  public  works  then  in  progress  in  Westphalia. 

After  honorably  fulfilling  his  duty  to  his  royal  patron 
he  turned  his  face  toward  the  New  World,  and  settled,  in 
eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-one,  on  a  tract  of  land  near 
Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania,  at  that  time  almost  the  frontier 
region  of  the  West.  For  several  years  he  devoted  himself 
to  the  improvement  of  a  tract  of  new  land,  and  the 
building  up  of  a  town.  The  life  of  a  farmer  afforded  him 
so  little  opportunity  for  the  practice  of  the  art  to  which 
he  had  given  so  much  study,  soon  became  tiresome,  and 
he  sought  an  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  his  skill  in  a 
sphere  of  action  that  would  better  satisfy  his  professional 
ambition. 

The  time  thus  spent,  however,  was  not  wholly  lost  to 
his  profession.  He  occupied  his  leisure  in  reviewing  his 
former  studies,  critically  investigating  the  most  abstruse 
principles  of  mechanics  and  engineering,  and  familiarizing 
himself  with  the  language  and  public  works  of  his  adopted 
country. 

About  this  time  extensive  canal  and  slack-water  improve- 
ments were  in  progress.  He  sought  and  obtained  his  first 
situation  as  Assistant  Engineer  on  the  slack- water  naviga- 
tion of  the  Beaver  river,  a  tributary  of  the  Ohio.  On  the 
close  of  this  engagement  he  was  employed  in  the  same 
capacity  on  the  Sandy  and  Beaver  Canal,  a  work  intended 


JOHN  A.  HOBBLING.  303 

to  connect  the  waters  of  Lake  Erie  with  the  Ohio  river. 
From  the  want  of  means,  and  the  opposing  influence  of 
the  rising  era  of  railroads,  this  work  was  never  completed. 
Afterwards  he  was  employed  on  the  upper  portion  of  the 
Alleghany  river,  in  the  construction  of  a  feeder  for  the 
Pennsylvania  Canal.  On  the  completion  of  this  work,  he 
entered  the  employment  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
was  engaged  for  three  years  in  the  survey  of  three  routes 
for  a  railroad  across  the  Alleghany  mountains,  from  Har- 
risburgh  to  Pittsburgh.  The  Pennsylvania  Central  Rail- 
road Company  afterwards  constructed  the  main  line  of  its 
railroad  on  the  route  located  by  Mr.  Roebling. 

A  short  respite  from  public  employment  was  devoted  to 
the  establishment  of  the  manufacture  of  wire  rope,  for 
which  purpose  he  devised  new  and  improved  machinery. 
This  was  the  first  attempt  in  its  manufacture  in  this  coun- 
try, and  proved,  and  has  continued  to  be,  a  complete  suc- 
cess, although  much  opposition  was  at  first  made  to  its 
use. 

In  this  manufacture  he  gained  the  necessary  experience 
of  the  nature  and  qualities  of  wire,  and  the  practical  appli- 
cation and  handling  of  this  material,  which  gave  him  the 
confidence  to  introduce  wire  ropes  into  the  construction  of 
the  first  suspension  aqueduct  in  the  United  States. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  forty- four  the  wooden  aque- 
duct of  the  Pennsylvania  Canal  across  the  Alleghany  river, 
had  become  so  unsafe  as  to  render  its  removal  and  the 
erection  of  a  new  structure  on  the  old  piers  necessary. 
The  time  for  this  change  of  structure  was  limited  to  nine 
months,  including  the  winter  season  of  eighteen  hundred 


304  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

and  forty-four  and  five.  The  work  was  let  by  contract  to 
the  lowest  bidder,  and  was  carried  to  a  successful  com- 
pletion by  Mr.  Roebling  within  the  time  specified,  and 
opened  to  commerce  in  May,  eighteen  hundred  and  forty- 
five. 

This  aqueduct  comprised  seven  spans  of  one  hundred 
and  sixty-two  feet  each,  consisting  of  a  wooden  trunk  to 
hold  the  water,  and  supported  by  a  continuous  wire  cable 
on  each  side,  of  seven  inches  in  diameter. 

A  rigorous  winter  and  rapid  river  current  added  greatly 
to  the  difficulties  to  be  overcome.  The  novelty  of  the 
method  of  construction,  the  unavoidable  imperfections  of 
untried  machinery,  employed  for  the  first  time  in  making 
a  large  cable  on  the  spot  it  was  to  occupy  permanently, 
were  no  light  obstacles  to  be  surmounted.  One  satisfac- 
tory phase,  however,  in  the  history  of  the  work,  and, 
indeed,  of  a  subsequent  one  also,  was  the  practical  refuta- 
tion its  success  afforded  to  the  numerous  attacks  of  the 
engineering  profession  of  that  day,  which  derided,  in  no 
measured  terms,  the  project  of  a  suspension 'aqueduct ;  its 
downfall,  as  soon  as  the  water  should  be  let  into  it,  was 
predicted  by  many  who  were  considered  eminent  in  the 
profession. 

Following  the  building  of  this  aqueduct  came  the  erec- 
tion of  the  Monongahela  Suspension  Bridge,  at  Pittsburgh, 
on  the  piers  of  the  old  wooden  bridge  destroyed  by  the 
great  fire  of  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-four,  and  connects 
that  city  with  the  borough  of  Sligo,  and  consists  of  eight 
spans  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-eight  feet  each,  sup- 
ported by  two  four  and  one-half  inch  cables,  which  in  this 


JOHN  A.  ROEBLING.  305 

instance  were  constructed  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  separ- 
ately for  each  span,  and  afterwards  hoisted  in  place  from 
flat  boats.  In  this  bridge  the  pendulum  principle  was 
applied,  to  counterbalance  adjoining  spans  under  the  action 
of  unequal  loads. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-eight,  Mr.  Roebling 
undertook  the  construction  of  four  suspension  aqueducts 
on  the  linet  jrf  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal,  con- 
necting the  anthracite  coal  regions  of  Pennsylvania  with 
the  tide  water  of  the  Hudson  river  at  Rondout.  They 
were  all  completed  within  two  years,  and  were  of  the 
following  dimensions  :  Lackawaxen  aqueduct,  two  spans 
of  one  hundred  and  fifteen  feet  each,  and  two  seven-inch 
cables  ;  Delaware  aqueduct,  four  spans  of  one  hundred 
and  thirty-four  feet  each,  two  eight-inch  cables  ;  High 
Falls  aqueduct,  one  span  of  one  hundred  and  forty-five 
feet,  and  two  eight  and  one-half  inch  cables  ;  Neversink, 
one  span  of  one  hundred  and  seventy  feet,  and  two  nine 
and  one-half  inch  cables.  These  are  all  essentially  perma- 
nent works,  as  the  wood-work  of  the  trunks  only  require 
occasional  renewal.  During  this  period  Mr.  Koebling 
removed  from  Western  Pennsylvania,  and  established  his 
works  for  the  manufacture  of  wire  rope,  and  residence  at 
Trenton,  New  Jersey. 

Suspension  bridges  was  a  favorite  branch  of  engineering 
with  him,  and  was  the  theme  of  his  graduating  thesis. 
The  construction  of  bridges  on  the  suspension  or  catenary 
plan  was  nothing  new,  as  suspended  chain  bridges  had 
been  in  use  for  many  years,  both  in  this  country  and  in 
Europe.  But  chains  were  found  not  to  give  equal  stiffness 


306  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

and  stability  to  the  structure  for  a  passing  load  or  the 
force  of  high  winds.  A  brief  description  here  of  a  chain 
bridge  built  many  years  ago  by  John  Templeman,  as 
Engineer,  across  the  Merrimac  river,  three  miles  below 
Newburyport,  Massachusetts,  may  be  found  interesting. 
The  span  was  two  hundred  and  forty-four  feet,  and  width 
thirty  feet,  with  two  roadways  of  fifteen  feet  each.  The 
abutments  were  of  masonry,  forty-seven  feet  long  and 
thirty-seven  feet  high,  upon  which  supporting  towers  were 
erected.  Ten  chains,  three  at  each  outer  edge  of  the 
bridge  and  four  in  the  centre,  were  made  to  bear,  with 
perfect  safety,  five  hundred  tons. 

The  Potomac  Bridge,  near  Washington,  had  spans  of 
one  hundred  and  thirty  feet,  the  Cumberland  Bridge  in 
Maryland  the  same  ;  the  Brandy  wine  Bridge  was  built  with 
one  hundred  and  forty-five  feet  span  ;  the  chain  bridge 
across  the  Lehigh,  near  Northampton,  Pennsylvania,  was 
four  hundred  and  seventy-five  feet  long,  in  four  spans. 
Others  of  less  importance  were  erected  in  different  parts 
of  the  country. 

The  first  wire  bridge,  an  American  invention,  was 
erected  over  the  Schuylkill  river.  It  had  a  span  of  four 
hundred  and  eight  feet. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-six  his  attention  was 
invited  by  the  author,  to  the  erection  of  a  railroad  suspen- 
sion bridge  across  the  Niagara  river  below  the  Falls,  who 
desired  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Roebling  as  to  the  practica- 
bility of  the  project.  Under  date  of  January  seventh, 
eighteen  hundred  and  forty-seven,  Mr.  Roebling  replied : 

li  I  have  bestowed  some   time  upon  this  subject  since 


JOHN  A.  HOBBLING.  307 

the  receipt  of  your  letter,  and  have  matured  plans  and 
working  details.  Although  the  question  of  applying  the 
principle  of  suspension  to  railroad  bridges  has  been  dis- 
posed of  in  the  negative  by  Mr.  Robert  Stephenson,  when 
discussing  the  plan  of  the  Britannia  Bridge  over  the  Menai, 
on  the  Chester  and  Holyhead  Railway,  I  am  bold  enough 
to  say  that  this  celebrated  Engineer  has  not  at  all  suc- 
ceeded in  the  solution  of  this  problem.  That  a  suspen- 
sion bridge  can  be  built  to  answer  for  a  railroad,  is  proven 
by  the  Monongahela  Bridge,  which  is  only  intended  for 
common  travel,  but  with  some  additional  expense  could 
be  made  stiff  enough  (it  is  strong  enough)  for  railroad 
trains  at  a  moderate  rate  of  speed.  Castings  of  ten  tons 
weight,  suspended  to  two  pairs  of  large  timber  wheels, 
have  lately  been  hauled  over  this  bridge  ;  the  six-horse 
coal  trains  which  pass  over  it  hourly  weigh  seven  tons. 

"  It  cannot  be  questioned  that  wire  cables,  when  well 
made,  offer  the  safest  and  most  economical  means  for  the 
support  of  heavy  weights.  Any  span  within  fifteen  hun- 
dred feet,  with  the  usual  deflection,  can  be  made  perfectly 
safe  for  the  support  of  railroad  trains  as  well  as  common 
travel. 

"  The  greater  the  weight  to  be  supported,  the  stronger 
the  cables  must  be,  and  as  this  is  a  matter  of  unerring 
calculation,  there  need  be  no  difficulty  on  the  score  of 
strength.  The  only  question  which  presents  itself  is :  can 
a  suspension  bridge  be  made  stiff  enough,  as  not  to  yield 
and  bend  under  the  weight  of  a  railroad  train  when  un- 
equally distributed  over  it ;  and  can  the  great  vibrations 
which  result  from  the  rapid  motion  of  such  trains  and 


308  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

which  prove  so  destructive  to  common  bridges,  be  avoided 
and  counteracted  ? 

"I  answer  this  question  in  the  affirmative,  and  main- 
tain that  wire  cable  bridges,  properly  constructed,  will  be 
found  hereafter  the  most  durable  and  cheapest  railroad 
bridges  for  spans  over  one  hundred  feet. 

11  There  is  not  one  good  suspension  bridge  in  Great 
Britain,  nor  will  they  ever  succeed  as  long  as  they  remain 
attached  to  their  chains  and  present  mode  of  super- 
structure. 

"The  larger  the  span,  the  stiffer  it  can  be  made,  on 
account  of  its  great  weight,  which  is  necessary  to  insure 
stability.  To  obtain  the  greatest  degree  of  stiffness,  all  the 
timber  applied,  should,  as  much  as  possible,  be  disposed 
in  the  direction  of  the  floors  ;  truss  frames,  when  made, 
are  useful,  but  need  not  be  applied  to  a  great  extent.  To 
counteract  the  pliability  of  a  cable,  stays  must  be  applied, 
by  which  a  number  of  points,  which  must  necessarily  cor- 
respond with  the  knots  of  vibration,  are  rendered  station- 
ary, and  so  that  the  stays  and  cables  act  in  concert  in 
supporting  the  bridge.  * 

"  The  locality  of  the  Niagara  Bridge  offers  the  very  best 
opportunity  for  the  application  of  a  system  of  stays,  which 
will  insure  all  the  stiffness  requisite  for  the  passage  of 
railroad  trains  at  a  rapid  rate.  The  plan  I  have  devised 
for  the  structure  will.  I  have  no  doubt,  convince  you  at 
the  first  inspection  that  the  rigidity  of  the  structure  will 
be  ample.  The  strength  of  the  cables  I  have  based  upon 
the  following  calculations : 

"  Total  weight  of  locomotive  and  train,  two  hundred 


JOHN  A.  ROEBLING.  309 

and  forty-five  tons,  the  vertical  impact  of  which,  when 
moving  at  a  speed  of  about  twenty  miles  per  hour,  will 
not  be  less  than  four  hundred  tons  ;  to  this  we  have  to 
add  the  weight  of  the  structure  itself,  amounting  to  over 
six  hundred  tons,  and  the  weight  of  a  number  of  teams 
which  may  happen  to  be  on  the  bridge  at  the  same  time 
a  train  is  passing  ;  also  for  a  foot  of  snow  which  may 
happen  to  fall  during  a  single  night.  By  adding  these 
items  of  weight,  and  allowing  no  less  than  five  times  the 
strength  of  wire  which  would  barely  support  the  tension 
resulting  from  these  pressures,  for  the  strength  of  the  cables 
and  stays,  we  will  be  found  altogether  on  the  safe  side  ; 
and  by  securing  the  cables  against  all  chances  of  rusting, 
and  preserving  all  the  timber  parts  of  the  structure,  we 
will  be  able  to  put  up  a  bridge  which  will  last  for  ages, 
and  offer  at  all  times  a  safe  passage  for  railroad  trains  as 
well  as  common  travel.'7 

Mr.  Roebling  manifested  his  confidence  in  the  success  of 
the  enterprise  by  an  offer  to  construct  the  bridge  on  the 
foregoing  principles,  with  two  tracks  for  common  travel, 
two  footwalks,  and  one  railroad  track,  within  fifteen 
months,  for  the  sum  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand 
dollars,  subscribe  twenty  thousand  dollars  to  the  capital 
stock,  and  give  security  for  the  complete  success  of  the 
work  in  all  its  parts. 

For  this,  the  first  bridge  erected  over  the  Niagara, 
Colonel  Ellet  was  the  successful  competitor.  When  it  was 
afterwards  determined  to  replace  this  structure  by  a 
railway  bridge,  Mr.  Roebling's  plans  were  accepted,  and 
he  was  appointed  Chief  Engineer  of  the  work.  He 


310  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

always  declined  to  furnish  plans  for  an  important  structure 
of  this  kind  that  could  not  be  erected  under  his  personal 
supervision,  neither  would  he  undertake  work  upon  plans 
made  by  others.  He  was  not  an  imitator  ;  all  his  great 
constructions  were  essentially  different,  and  planned  to 
meet  the  special  features  of  the  location,  and  when  he  had 
once  decided  upon  his  plan,  he  was  sanguine  of  its  success, 
and  his  whole  energies  were  directed  to  its  accomplish- 
ment. 

His  own  eye  must  examine  every  portion  of  the  struc- 
ture as  it  was  put  together,  and  nothing  beyond  the 
manual  labor  was  intrusted  to  others. 

In  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-one,  he  commenced  oper- 
ation on  the  Niagara  River  Bridge,  and  for  four  years  the 
work  continued  without  interruption,  even  during  the 
coldest  of  Canadian  winters.  In  eighteen  hundred  arid 
fifty-four  the  lower  floor  was  opened  to  roadway  travel, 
and  in  March,  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-five  the  first' 
locomotive  and  train  of  railway  cars  crossed  a  wire  sus- 
pension bridge,  and  to  this  day  no  interruption  in  its 
use  has  occurred. 

It  is  perhaps  unnecessary  here  to  enter  upon  a  full 
description  of  the  details  of  the  structure;  it  may  be 
sufficient  to  give  its  main  features  that  its  magni- 
tude may  be  understood.  Length  of  span,  eight  hundred 
and  twenty-five  feet,  height  of  railway  track  above  the 
water,  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  The  cables  are  four  in 
number,  each  containing  three  thousand  five  hundred  and 
sixty-nine  number  nine  wires.  It  has  two  floors  or  plat- 
forms. The  lower  one  designed  for  roadway  use,  and 


JOHN  A.  ROEBLING.  311 

the  upper  one  for  a  railway  track.  The  floors  are  sup- 
ported by  struts  and  diagonal  tension  rods  from  the  cables, 
so  that  the  structure  forms  a  continuous  hollow  girder 
stiff  enough  to  sustain  the  movement  of  a  railroad  train. 

Heretofore  it  had  been  the  practice  to  lay  each  wire 
singly,  one  by  one,  until  the  number  required  for  the 
cable  was  placed,  and  to  hold  them  together  by  bands  or 
coils  of  wire,  placed  at  short  distances  apart.  Mr. 
Roebling  invented  and  used  for  this  bridge,  a  machine  for 
winding  the  cables,  with  small  wire  from  end  to  end,  in 
a  manner  that  protects  them  from  the  action  of  the 
atmosphere  and  binds  them,  in  a  degree,  into  a  solid  mass. 

Simultaneous  with  the  progress  of  the  Niagara  Bridge, 
another  railway  suspension  bridge  was  commenced  by  Mr. 
Roebling  over  the  Kentucky  river  on  the  projected  line  of 
the  Lexington  and  Southern  Kentucky  Railroad.  The 
gorge  to  be  crossed  here  was  both  wider  and  deeper  than 
that  at  Niagara,  requiring  a  span  of  twelve  hundred  and 
twenty-four  feet.  The  anchorages  were  laid  and  the  stone 
towers  erected,  and  most  of  the  cable  wire  and  other 
material  for  the  superstructure  delivered  at  the  site,  when, 
the  Company  becoming  financially  embarrassed,  the  work 
was  suspended  and  has  not  since  been  resumed.  In  this 
bridge  no  carriage  way  was  designed,  and  the  plan  of  the 
structure  was  essentially  different  from  that  of  the  Niagara 
Bridge. 

In  the  fall  of  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-six  he  laid  the 
anchorages  and  foundations  for  the  towers  of  the  Cincin- 
nati and  Covington  Suspension  Bridge.  Mr.  Roebling 
devised  a  plan  for  this  bridge  in  eighteen  hundred  and 


312  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

forty-six,  quite  a  different  one,  however,  from  the  one  he 
has  since  built.  His  first  plan  contemplated  a  tower  in 
the  centre  of  the  river,  and  two  spans  of  seven  hundred 
and  ninety  feet  each.  The  progress  of  this  bridge  was 
interrupted  for  the  want  of  sufficient  means,  and  the 
outbreak  of  the  rebellion,  until  eighteen  hundred  and 
sixty-three,  when  the  work  was  recommenced,  and  the 
bridge  completed  in  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-seven. 

*  "  At  the  lowest  stage  of  water  the  Ohio  river,  between 
Cincinnati  and  Covington,  has  a  width  of  about  one  thou- 
sand feet.  By  the  charter  of  the  Company  the  position  of 
the  towers  was  fixed  at  low-water  mark,  so  that  the  middle 
span  should  present  an  opening  of  not  less  than  one  thou- 
sand feet  in  the  clear.  In  the  spring  of  the  year  eighteen 
hundred  and  thirty-two  the  river  rose  sixty-two  feet  above 
low  water.  At  this  stage,  the  width  of  waterway  is  pver 
two  thousand  feet.  With  the  exception  of  the  towers,  the 
whole  waterway  between  the  two  cities  is  left  unob- 
structed, a  width  of  sixteen  hundred  and  nineteen  feet. 
The  two  small  spans  left  open  between  the  abutments 
and  towers  are  each  two  hundred  and  eighty-one  feet,  from 
face,  to  centre  of  towers.  In  an  engineering  point  of  view, 
this  division  of  spans  is  not  the  most  economical.  The 
cheapest  arrangement  would  have  been  one  centre  span 
of  eight  hundred  feet,  and  two  half  spans  of  four  hundred 
feet  each.  But  that  plan  had  been  forestalled  by  pre- 
vious legislation.  One  of  the  early  charters  decreed  one 
single  span  of  fourteen  hundred  feet  in  the  clear.  But 
this  very  great  and  expensive  span  was  afterwards  allowed 

*  Report  of  Covington  and  Cincinnati  Bridge,  J.  A.   Roebling,  1867. 


JOHN  A.  HOBBLING.  313 

to  be  reduced  to  one  thousand  feet,  and  with  this  amend- 
ment the  foundations  were  commenced  in  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  fifty-six. 

"  Owing  to  the  persistent  opposition  of  property-owners, 
steamboat  and  ferry  interests,  the  clear  elevation  of  the 
floor  above  low- water  mark,  in  the  centre  of  the  river 
span,  had  been  fixed  at  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  feet. 
By  a  later  enactment,  this  height  was  reduced  to  one  hun- 
dred feet.  As  the  bridge  stands  now,  its  elevation  is  one 
hundred  and  three  feet  in  the  clear  above  low-water  mark, 
at  a  medium  temperature  of  sixty  degrees,  rising  one  foot 
by  extreme  cold,  and  sinking  one  foot  below  this  mark  in 
extreme  heat.  The  greatest  ascent  is  only  five  feet  in  one 
hundred,  at  the  Cincinnati  approach,  and  this  diminishes 
as  the  suspended  floor  is  reached. 

u  The  floor  of  the  bridge  is  formed  of  a  strong  wrought- 
iron  frame,  overlaid  with  several  thicknesses  of  plank,  and 
suspended  to  the  two-wire  cables  by  means  of  suspenders 
attached  every  five  feet,  arranged  between  roadway  and 
footpaths  ;  the  latter  seven  feet  wide,  and  are  protected 
by  iron  railings  towards  the  river.  The  roadway  is  twenty 
feet  wide,  forming  two  tracks  of  four  lines  of  iron  trams, 
on  which  the  wheels  run,  each  tram  being  fourteen  inches 
wide,  to  accommodate  all  kinds  of  gauges.  The  whole 
width  of  the  floor  between  the  outside  railings  is  thirty- 
six  feet.  No  stays  or  other  obstructions  are  put  up  below 
the  floor,  such  as  may  be  seen  under  the  Niagara  Bridge. 
No  such  means  to  prevent  the  floor  from  rising  was  used 
in  this  work  ;  its  security  and  stability  are  provided  for 
by  other  appliances.  The  rock  underneath  the  Niagara 


314  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

Bridge  afforded  a  very  cheap  mode  of  anchoring  ;  it  would 
have  been  a  great  oversight  on  my  part  not  to  avail  my- 
self of  under-floor  stays  in  such  a  favorable  locality.  But 
in  the  Ohio  river  no  such  appendages  were  admissible. 

' '  The  general  plan  which  I  have  always  pursued  in  my 
works  insures,  by  the  heavy  contraction  of  the  cables  in 
the  centre  of  the  span,  great  lateral  stability  at  this  point. 
The  larger  and  heavier  the  span,  the  greater  will  be  its  com- 
parative stability  at  the  centre.  Vertical  stability  in  the 
centre  is  also  insured  in  large  spans  by  the  weight  of  the 
structure.  But  not  so  between  the  centre  and  the  towers. 
In  consequence  of  the  equilibrating  tendency  of  the  two 
opposite  halves,  vertical  oscillations  occur  easier,  and  the 
great  length  of  suspenders,  acting  like  pendulums,  pro- 
motes lateral  displacements.  These  tendencies  have  to  be 
met,  and  are  thoroughly  overcome  in  the  Ohio  bridge  by 
an  effective  system  of  stays.  The  very  careless  manner 
in  which  stays  have  been  attempted  heretofore  is  a  viola- 
tion of  the  principle  involved.  Their  arrangement  in  this 
bridge  not  only  insures  their  own  freedom  from  oscillation, 
but  renders  them  fully  effective  by  the  uninterrupted  pre- 
servation of  their  lines. 

"  Aside  from  simply  stiffening  the  floor,  the  stays  are 
rendering  another  and  very  important  service  ;  they  effec- 
tually insure  equilibrium  between  the  main  and  half 
spans.  Without  stays  the  balance  between  adjoining 
spans  would  sometimes  be  greatly  disturbed  by  unequal 
loads.  The  large  crowds  of  many  thousands  of  people 
which  frequently  cover  the  floor  from  one  end  to  the 
other,  are  occasionally  very  unevenly  distributed,  but 


JOHN  A.  HOBBLING. 


315 


they  have    never    produced  the  slightest  injurious  effect 
upon  the  statical  condition  of  this  work. 

"  Great  doubts  are  yet  entertained  by  many  engineers, 
particularly  in  Europe,  in  regard  to  the  fitness  and  safety 
of  suspension  bridges  for  railway  purposes.  By  an  addi- 
tional expenditure  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  a  railroad 
track  laid  down  in  the  centre  of  the  floor,  the  Ohio  bridge 
could  have  been  made  serviceable  for  the  passage  of  loco- 
motives and  trains  at  the  highest  speed.  Let  any  person 
who  doubts  this,  observe  the  very  slight  tremor  which  is 
produced  on  this  bridge  by  a  long  line  of  heavily  loaded 
teams,  frequently  ten  in  a  row,  and  he  will  readily  under- 
stand that  but  a  small  addition  of  rigidity  is  wanted  in 
order  to  pass  railroad  trains." 


SUSPENSION  BRIDGE  OVER  THE   RIVER  OHIO  AT  CINCINNATI. 

The  principal  dimensions  of  this  bridge  are :  Main 
span,  from  centre  to  centre  of  towers,  one  thousand  and 
fifty-seven  feet.  Side  spans ,  from  abutment  to  centre  of 
tower,  two  hundred  and  eighty-one  feet.  Total  length 
between  abutments,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  nine- 
teen feet.  Elevation  of  floor  above  low  water  at  tower, 


316  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

ninety-one  feet.  Elevation  of  floor  above  low  water  at 
centre,  one  hundred  and  three  feet.  Length  of  Cincinnati 
approach  from  Front  street  to  abutment,  three  hundred 
and  forty-one  feet.  Length  of  Covington  approach  from 
Second  street  to  abutment,  two  hundred  and  ninety-two 
feet.  Total  length,  including  approaches,  two  thousand 
two  hundred  and  fifty-two  feet.  Number  of  cables,  two, 
each  twelve  and  one-third  inches  in  diameter.  Number 
nine  wires,  in  each  cable,  five  thousand  two  hundred. 
Ultimate  strength  of  one  cable,  four  thousand  two 
hundred  and  twelve  tons.  Weight  of  main  span  between 
towers,  one  thousand  five  hundred  tons.  Number  of  stays 
in  main  span,  seventy-six — strength  of  each,  ninety  tons. 
Weight  of  main  span  between  towers,  asrfar  as  supported 
by  cables,  one  thousand  three  hundred  tons.  Deflection  of 
cables  in  main  span,  eighty-nine  feet.  Permanent  tension 
to  strength,  one-eighth.  Ordinary  working  tension  to 
strength,  one-seventh.  Maximum  tension  to  strength, 
one-sixth.  Section  of  each  anchor  chain  in  square  inches, 
one  hundred  and  ninety.  Area  of  each  foundation  in 
square  feet,  eight  thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty.  Cubic 
contents  of  masonry  of  each  tower,  four  hundred  thousand 
feet. 

During  the  delay  of  the  Cincinnati  Bridge,  arrange- 
ments were  made  to  proceed  with  the  erection  of  still 
another  suspension  bridge  at  Pittsburgh ,  to  take  the  place 
of  the  old  wooden  Alleghany  Bridge,  built  in  eighteen 
hundred  and  eighteen,  and  then  no  longer  safe.  The 
removal  of  the  old  structure  and  construction  of  the 
new  permanent  work,  including  the  building  of  the  three 


JOHN  A.  ROEBLING.  317 

new  piers  and  two  anchorages,  required  three  years  from 
eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-eight,  to  eighteen  hundred  and 
sixty  inclusive.  The  total  length  of  this  bridge  is  one 
thousand  and  thirty  feet,  divided  into  two  spans  of  three 
hundred  and  forty-four  feet  each,  and  two  side  spans  of 
one  hundred  and  seventy-one  feet  each.  The  floor  has  a 
width  of  forty  feet,  including  two  sidewalks,  ten  feet  wide. 
The  frame  work  of  the  superstructure  is  composed  essen- 
tially of  iron  girders,  with  a  flooring  of  wood.  Ornamen- 
tal open  towers  of  cast-iron  support  the  cables,  which  are 
four  in  number,  two  of  seven  inches  in  diameter,  attached 
to  the  floor  between  the  sidewalks  and  carriage-way,  and 
two  of  four  inches  in  diameter,  attached  to  the  ends  of  the 
floor  beams  ;  in  addition  to  the  cables,  there  is  an  effec- 
tive system  of  stays. 

Mr.  Roebling's  last  great  work  was  the  design  and  plan 
of  the  East  River  Bridge,  connecting  the  cities  of  New 
York  and  Brooklyn,  which,  when  completed,  will  be  one 
of  the  grandest  of  engineering  triumphs.  Though  he 
lived  only  to  see  the  work  begun,  and  its  prospects  of 
completion  assured,  his  plans,  as  was  his  habit,  were  so 
carefully  and  perfectly  matured,  that  his  death  caused  no 
suspension  or  delay  in  the  work.* 

The  following  is  taken  from  his  report  to  the  President 
and  Directors,  made  in  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-seven  : 
"  The  central  span  will  cross  the  river  from  pier  line  to 
pier  line,  without  impeding  the  navigation,  in  one  single 
span  of  one  thousand  six  hundred  feet  from  centre  to 

*  The  bridge  is  now  being  constructed  under  the  charge  of  his  son,  Col.  W.  A. 
Roebling,  who  possesses  much  of  his  father's  ability. 


318  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

centre  of  tower.  From  each  tower  towards  the  land  side, 
half  spans  will  be  supported  by  the  land  cables,  nine  hun- 
dred and  forty  feet  long  each,  measuring  from  the  centre  of 
tower  to  the  face  of  anchor  wall.  From  the  anchor  wall 
on  the  New  York  side,  a  distance  remains  of  one  thou- 
sand three  hundred  and  thirty-seven  feet  to  Chatham 
street.  The  distance  from  the  anchor  wall  to  the  Brook- 
lyn terminus  measures  eight  hundred  and  thirty-seven 
feet. 

"The  greater  length  of  the  bridge,  therefore,  forms  a 
suspension  bridge  proper.  For  a  better  understanding 
of  the  subject,  those  portions  between  the  anchor  walls 
and  the  termini  I  shall  call  approaches.  These  approaches 
will  be  supported  by  iron  girders  and  trusses,  and  these 
will  rest  at  short  intervals  upon  small  piers  of  masonry  or 
iron  columns,  located  within  those  blocks  of  buildings 
which  will  be  crossed  and  occupied.  These  pillars  will 
form  parts  of  wall,  needed  for  the  division  of  the  occupied 
grounds  into  stores,  dwellings,  or  offices.  In  every  case 
the  bridge  floor  will  be  constructed  perfectly  fire  and  water 
proof,  so  as  to  serve  as  a  roof  to  the  blocks  of  houses  and 
stores  underneath.  The  streets  will  be  crossed  by  iron 
girders  at  such  elevations  as  to  leave  them  unobstructed. 
This  can  be  accomplished  even  in  the  crossing  of  North 
"William  street  in  New  York,  so  that  on  this  side  no  neces- 
sity will  arise  for  the  vacation  of  any  one  street.  In  the 
crossing  of  Franklin  Square  both  girders  and  trusses  will 
be  employed.  The  general  arrangement  of  this  part  of 
the  structure  will  become  clearer  by  an  inspection  of  the 
accompanying  plans." 


JOHN  A.  HOBBLING.  319 


1 t 


From  the  anchorage  towards  the  river  the  bridge  floor 
is  suspended  to  the  cables,  and,  therefore,  needs  no  sup- 
port. The  elevation  will  be  so  high  that  the  roofs  of  the 
buildings  underneath  will  be  cleared.  This  elevation,  at 
the  anchorage,  will  be  eighty-five  feet  eight  inches  above 
high  tide ,  ascending  towards  the  river  at  the  rate  of  three 
feet  five  inches  in  each  hundred  feet.  The  iron  framing, 
which  forms  the  bridge  floor,  is  eighty  feet  wide.  This 
width  is  divided  in  five  spaces,  marked  by  six  lines  of  iron 
trusses.  The  two  outside  spaces  are  fifteen  feet  wide  in  the 
clear  between  the  chords,  and  fifteen  feet  five  inches  be- 
tween the  posts,  and  form  roadways  for  all  kinds  of  com- 
mon travel.  Iron  tramways  are  laid  down  eighteen 
inches  wide  for  the  wheels  to  run  on,  the  same  arrange- 
ment as  on  the  Cincinnati  Bridge,  leaving  a  width  of  four 
feet  eight  and  one-half  inches  in  the  clear  for  the  horses 
to  walk  on.  The  remaining  six  feet  serve  as  a  sidewalk 
for  pedestrians.  The  next  two  spaces  are  thirteen  feet 
wide  each,  and  are  to  be  provided  with  steel  rails  for 
the  running  of  two  passenger  trains  of  cars,  back  and 
forward  alternately.  These  trains  will  be  attached  to 
endless  wire  rope,  which  is  to  be  propelled  by  a  sta- 
tionary engine,  located  on  the  Brooklyn  side,  underneath 
the  floor. 

"The  cables  of  the  East  River  Bridge  will  have  a 
deflection  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  feet,  which 
is  two  twenty-fifths  of  the  span,  and  the  tension  which 
is  produced  thereby  will  be  about  one  and  two-thirds 
of  the  weight  of  the  wire.  The  weight  of  superstruc- 
ture of  the  central  span,  as  far  as  supported  by  the 


320  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

cables  and  stays,  and  including  the  weight  of  four  steel 
cables,  is  equal  to  three  thousand  four  hundred  and 
eighty-three  tons.  The  maximum  transitory  weight 
which  can  at  any  one  time  come  on  the  bridge,  by  crowds 
of  people  on  the  road  and  footways,  and  the  railway  trains 
fully  loaded,  will  be  one  thousand  two  hundred  and 
seventy  tons,  making  an  aggregate  of  four  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  fifty-three  tons. 

"  To  guard  against  vertical  and  horizontal  oscillations, 
and  to  insure  that  degree  of  stiffness  in  the  flooring,  which 
is  absolutely  necessary  to  meet  the  effects  of  violent  gales 
in  such  an  exposed  situation,  I  have  provided  six  lines  of 
iron  trusses,  which  run  the  whole  length  of  the  suspended 
floor,  from  anchor  wall  to  anchor  wall.  The  iron  floor 
beams,  which  are  spaced  in  pairs,  seven  feet  and  one-half 
apart,  intersect  longitudinal  trusses  at  right  angles,  and 
are  riveted  to  the  middle  cords  and  to  the  upright  posts. 
The  height  of  each  truss  is  twelve  feet,  the  floor  being  laid 
above  the  centre,  so  that  the  upper  part  of  the  truss  frames 
answers  for  protection,  as  well  as  division,  in  place  of  rail- 
ings. 

"Those  parts  of  the  longitudinal  trusses  which  extend 
below  the  floor  beams,  afford  an  excellent  means  for 
lateral  trussing  and  bracing,  as  will  be  readily  understood 
by  an  inspection  of  the  drawings.  A  most  effective 
framing  is  thus  obtained,  which  will  be  found  to  possess 
ample  stiffness  even  in  the  greatest  emergency. 

"  The  superstructure  will  be  firmly  anchored  upon  the 
masonry  of  the  towers  and  of  the  anchor  walls.  Ample 
provision  will  also  be  made  for  horizontal  bracing  under- 


JOHN  A.  HOBBLING.  321 

neath  the  floor.  The  great  massiveness  of  the  towers  and 
of  the  anchor  walls  will  furnish  a  sure  anchorage  for  hori- 
zontal bracing. 

"  A  most  powerful  element  of  resistance  to  storms  will 
be  found  in  the  great  weight  and  inertia  of  the  cables,  and 
of  the  whole  superstructure.  This  will  be  still  more 
increased  by  the  lateral  inclination  of  the  cables.  Two  of 
these  will  be  suspended  outside,  and  they  will  incline 
towards  each  other.  The  other  two  will  be  supported  by 
the  central  shafts  of  the  towers,  and  in  their  descent  will 
spread  apart.  The  weight  of  the  superstructure,  without 
cables,  will  be  two  thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy-five 
tons. 

"  The  great  features  of  the  work  will  be  the  two  towers. 
The  base  of  each  tower,  at  the  water  line,  measured  in  the 
direction  of  the  river,  is  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  feet 
long,  and  its  extreme  width  will  be  fifty-six  feet.  Below 
the  upper  cornice,  at  the  top  of  the  tower,  these  dimen- 
sions are  reduced  to  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  by  forty 
feet.  This  reduction  is  not  effected  by  a  gradual  drawing 
in  or  sloping,  but  by  sloped  offsets  at  intervals,  which  leave 
the  intermediate  portions  of  the  masonry  plumb  face. 
The  elevation  of  the  floor  is  one  hundred  and  eighteen  feet 
above  high  water  ;  the  height  of  the  roofing  above  the 
floor  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  making  a  total  height 
of  two  hundred  and  sixty-eight  feet  from  high  water  to 
top  or  roof,  not  including  the  balustrade  and  ornamental 
blocks.  This  large  body  does  not  form  one  solid  mass, 
but  is  built  hollow.  Starting  with  the  masonry  three  feet 
below  low  water,  the  cubical  quantity  in  the  two  towers 


322  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

will  be  sixty-two  thousand  eight  hundred  and  twenty-four 
cubic  yards,  of  twenty-seven  cubic  feet  each. 

"The  proposed  bridge  over  the  East  River  will  cost 
from  six  to  seven  millions  of  dollars." 


The  New  York  and  Brooklyn  Suspension  Bridge,  in  course  of  construction. 

That  Mr.  Roebling  had  a  full  appreciation  of  the  mag- 
nitude and  importance  of  the  undertaking  may  be  inferred 
from  the  closing  sentence  of  his  report : 

"  The  contemplated  work,  when  constructed  in  accord- 
ance with  my  designs,  will  not  only  be  the  greatest  bridge 
in  existence,  but  it  will  be  the  great  engineering  work  of 
this  Continent  and  of  the  age.  Its  most  conspicuous 
features — the  great  towers — will  serve  as  landmarks  to 
the  adjoining  cities,  and  they  will  be  entitled  to  be  ranked 
as  national  monuments.  As  a  great  work  of  art,  and  as  a 
successful  specimen  of  advanced  bridge  engineering,  this 
structure  will  forever  testify  to  the  energy,  enterprise,  and 
wealth  of  that  community  which  shall  secure  its  erec- 
tion." 

Mr.  Roebling's  reasoning  was  always  clear,  simple,  and 
explicit,  and  sustained  by  philosophical  and  scientific 
facts.  He  took  nothing  for  granted.  His  arguments 
were  drawn  from  his  store  of  scientific  knowledge,  with  a 
mathematical  accuracy  and  fitness  that  carried  with  them 


JOHN  A.  ROEBLING.  323 

a  conviction  of  truth.  He  was  impatient  at  captious  oppo- 
sition to  his  projects,  but  always  courted  a  discussion  of 
his  plans  by  those  who  brought  sound  theoretical  or 
practical  opposition  to  his  views.  In  a  report  made  by 
him  for  a  suspension  bridge  at  Cincinnati,  as  early  as 
eighteen  hundred  and  forty-six,  and  to  which  there  was 
much  opposition  from  those  interested  in  river  navigation, 
he  says  in  effect,  I  have  no  fears  of  those  who  honestly 
believe  the  bridge  to  be  injurious  to  the  navigation  ;  the 
opposition  of  cavillers  I  most  dread. 

Several  years  ago  Mr.  Roebling  proposed  and  published 
a  theory  of  the  crank  motion,  which  he  supported  by 
argument  and  illustration.*  The  proposition  attracted 
the  attention  of  Engineers,  and  various  replies  and  eluci- 
dations were  given  by  different  writers.  In  vol.  v.,  page 
36  of  the  Journal,  Edwin  F.  Johnson,  the  eminent  Civil 
Engineer,  over  the  nome  de  plume  of  "  Fulton/7  offered  a 
solution  of  the  question,  in  which  he  demonstrated  the 
error  of  the  proposition.  Mr.  Roebling,  in  the  most  frank 
and  manly  manner,  replied  that  the  solution  of  the  ques- 
tion of  the  crank  offered  by  "  Fulton"  had  led  him  "  to 
consider  the  subject  more  attentively  than  he  had  done," 
expressing  himself  "greatly  indebted  to  the  calm  and 
methodical  reasoning  of  *  Fulton'  for  the  conclusions  to 
which  he  had  at  last  arrived."  Although  these  gentle- 
men never  met  each  other,  a  friendly  correspondence  was 
maintained  between  them  for  many  years,  each  enjoying 
a  high  opinion  of  the  other's  skill  and  professional  knowl- 
edge. 

*  Railroad  Journal  and  Mechanics'  Magazine,  vol.  iv.,  2d  series,  p.  161. 


324  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

His  conclusions  were  always  .practical,  and  adapted  to 
the  circumstances  of  a  given  case.  In  the  report  on  the 
Cincinnati  Bridge,  before  referred  to,  in  meeting  the  ques- 
tion of  the  height  of  the  chimneys  of  the  river  steamboats, 
he  says  :  "  For  a  series  of  years  the  boats  have  increased 
the  height  of  their  chimneys  ;  it  is  inferred  from  this  that 
no  one  could  tell  where  they  would  stop.  If  it  was  estab- 
lished that  the  growth  of  chimneys  was  in  a  direct  propor- 
tion to  the  power  and  capacity  of  a  boat,  then  the  previous 
observation  would  be  entitled  to  serious  attention.  But, 
fortunately,  the  very  reverse  will  be  found  to  be  the  fact 
in  the  future ;  paradoxical  as  this  may  be,  it  is  neverthe- 
less true,  and  will  be  assented  to  by  those  who  have  made 
themselves  acquainted  with  the  principles  of  the  steam 
engine  and  steam  generators. 

' '  The  ostensible  object  of  high  chimneys  on  board  of 
steamers  is  to  create  more  draft.  Now,  it  is  fully  estab- 
lished and  generally  known  that  economy  in  fuel  is  in- 
versely as  the  rapidity  of  combustion.  And,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  escape  of  lost  heat  and  unconsumed  fuel  up  the 
chimneys  is  in  direct  proportion  to  the  draft.  These 
points  are  better  understood  on  our  Eastern  waters,  and  in 
ocean  navigation,  where  economy  of  fuel  is  a  greater 
desideratum  than  here  in  the  West.  The  question  of  an 
increased  speed  is  there  not  solved  by  simply  raising  the 
chimneys,  and  increasing  the  draft,  but  by  other  means,  a 
little  more  creditable  to  science.  In  future,  the  power 
and  value  of  a  boat  will  be  estimated,  not  by  the  height  of 
their  chimneys,  as  is  now  the  case,  but  by  their  lowness. 
Low  chimneys  on  a  powerful  boat  will' be  the  best  proof 


JOHN  A.  HOBBLING.  325 

of  a  superior  arrangement  for  the  generation  of  steam. 
But  as  there  are  a  number  of  boats  still  running  which 
carry  high  chimneys,  and  as  this  fashion  is  likely  to  con- 
tinue for  some  time  yet,  we  shall  be  obliged  to  adopt,  in 
the  construction  of  the  proposed  work,  an  elevation  un- 
necessarily high." 

One  of  his  strongest  moral  traits  was  his  power  of  will, 
not  a  will  that  was  stubborn,  but  a  certain  spirit,  tenacity 
of  purpose,  and  confident  reliance  upon  self,  that  was  free 
of  conceit ;  an  instinctive  faith  in  the  resources  of  his  art 
that  no  force  of  circumstance  could  divert  him  from  carry- 
ing into  effect  a  project  once  matured  in  his  mind.  His 
skill  as  an  Engineer  was  not  surpassed  by  his  exact 
probity.  He  held  it  "  to  be  the  duty  of  an  Engineer,  when 
charged  with  the  designs  of  public  works,  to  report  pre- 
vious to  their  execution  fairly,  accurately,  and  candidly," 
and  that  "honesty  of  design  and  execution,  next  to 
knowledge  and  experience,  most  surely  guarantees  profes- 
sional reputation."  Before  entering  upon  any  important 
work,  he  always  demonstrated  to  the  most  minute  detail 
its  practicability  to  his  own  mind  at  least,  by  scientific 
experiment  and  critical  test;  and  when  his  own  judg- 
ment was  assured,  no  opposition,  sarcasm,  or  pretended 
experience,  could  divert  him  from  consummating  his 
designs,  and  in  his  own  way. 

His  brain  was  fertile  in  expedients  to  meet  and  over- 
come any  incidental  impediment  that  might  arise  in  the 
course  of  construction  of  any  work. 

In  his  charities  he  was  exceedingly  liberal,  and  what  he 
bestowed  was  given  without  ostentation.  A  plea  for  aid 


326  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS. 

from  the  poor  and  humble,  although  his  time  was  precious, 
always  received  attention,  and  a  share  of  his  bounty. 
His  social  and  domestic  relations  were  most  agreeable. 
In  conversation  he  was  earnest,  instructive,  and  exceed- 
ingly entertaining.  His  sympathies  for  the  working  man 
were  large,  and  he  lost  no  opportunity  to  promote  har- 
mony and  good  feeling  between  the  employer  and  the 
employed. 

Besides  his  reports  upon  the  various  works  upon  which 
he  was  engaged,  he  left  but  one  publication,  entitled, 
"  Long  and  Short  Span  Bridges,"  *  a  very  valuable  work, 
profusely  illustrated  by  elaborate  drawings. 

"He  needs  no  eulogy  other  than  the  simple  record  of 
his  life,  and  no  monument  can  be  reared  that  is  not  entirely 
insignificant  in  comparison  with  his  works." 

He  died  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  July,  eighteen 
hundred  and  sixty-nine,  from  the  effects,  indirectly,  of  an 
injury  which  he  had  received  three  weeks  previously  at 
Brooklyn,  when  his  foot  was  crushed  while  directing  the 
commencement  of  the  work  on  the  East  River  Bridge. 
His  funeral  was  largely  attended  by  public  and  private 
citizens  at  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  where  his  remains  lie 
buried. 

*  New  York  :  D.  Van  Nostrand,  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-nine. 


APPENDIX   A. 


Extract  from  a  description  of  the  Union  Canal,  written  in  1830,  by  W. 
MILNOB  EGBERTS,  Resident  Engineer. 

THE  Union  Canal  begins  two  miles  below  Beading,  and  extends 
to  Middletown,  nine  miles  below  Harrisburgh,  connecting  the 
Schuylkill  with  the  Susquehanna  river.  Its  length  is  seventy-nine 
miles,  exclusive  of  a  navigable  feeder  on  the  Swatara.  The  summit 
level  passes  through  a  tunnel  eighteen  feet  wide,  fourteen  feet  high, 
and  seven  hundred  and  thirty-nine  feet  long.  There  are  two  reser- 
voirs for  this  summit,  containing  twelve  million  cubic  feet  of  water; 
one  of  them  covering  eight,  and  the  other  twenty-seven  acres.  There 
are  two  steam  engines  of  one  hundred  horse  power  each,  and  three 
water-wheels  for  supplying  the  summit  with  water,  capable  of  raising 
to  advantage  1,250,000  gallons  every  twenty-four  hours. 

There  are  three  dams  for  supplying  the  main  canal  with  water — 
one  across  the  Schuylkill  river,  and  two  across  the  Swatara.  The 
great  dam,  located  in  a  narrow  gorge,  through  which  the  Swatara 
passes,  and  near  the  northern  declivity  of  the  Blue  Mountain,  is  a 
stupendous  structure,  and  holds  in  check  an  immense  artificial  lake 
covering  about  eight  hundred  acres.  The  crib  work  measures  two 
hundred  feet  across  the  stream  and  forty  feet  in  perpendicular  height, 
composed  of  timbers  of  10  by  12  inches.  Those  at  the  base  are  of 
white  oak,  the  remainder  of  white  pine,  laid  at  right  angles,  forming 
squares  six  to  eight  feet  from  centre  to  centre,  firmly  treenailed, 
filled  with  stone,  and  the  whole  strongly  fitted  against  the  mountain 
on  the  west  end.  On  the  east  end  is  an  abutment  of  stone,  laid  in 
hydraulic  cement,  forty-eight  feet  high,  eight  feet  above  the  top  of 
the  dam.  The  dam  has  a  base  in  the  direction  of  the  stream  of  one 
hundred  and  ten  feet.  The  embankment  of  earth  and  stone  reaches 
to  the  east  side  of  the  gap,  a  distance  of  two  hundred  and  thirty  feet; 

327 


328  APPENDIX. 

it  is  two  hundred  and  sixty  feet  wide  on  the  base,  and  sixty  feet  in 
width  at  the  outer  surface,  and  fifty  feet  in  height,  being  ten  feet 
above  the  dam.  There  are  twelve  sluice  gates  about  six  feet 
above  the  bottom  of  the  dam,  each  having  an  opening  of  two  feet 
square.  They  are  of  cast-iron,  raised  or  lowered  by  means  of  screws. 
The  sluice  gates  and  machinery  are  surrounded  by  a  strong  frame 
work,  connected  with  the  western  shore  by  a  light  bridge. 


APPENDIX   B. 


FIRST  EIGHT-WHEEL  LOCOMOTIVE  * 

An  eight-wheel  steam  engine,  designed  by  Horatio  Allen  in 
eighteen  hundred  and  thirty,  was  built  in  eighteen  hundred  and 
thirty-two,  and  put  in  use  on  the  South  Carolina  Railroad.  Two 
of  these  engines  were  built,  each  having  two  four-wheel  swivelling 
trucks.  The  inner  pairs  of  wheels  were  larger  in  diameter,  and  were 
driving  wheels,  with  crank  axles,  connected  with  the  steam-chest, 
midway  between  them. 

The  body  was  a  steam  boiler,  with  furnace  in  the  middle,  and  a 
smoke-pipe  at  each  end,  and,  from  its  construction,  its  use  was 
limited  to  the  purpose  of  a  traction  engine,  and  not  adapted  to  move 
a  train  of  cars.  These  eight-wheel  engines  were  used  on  the  South 
Carolina  Railroad,  and  answered  the  purpose  for  which  they  were 
built.  This  plan,  however,  of  traction  engines  did  not  go  into  general 
use  ;  nevertheless,  it  was  the  first  application  of  the  swivelling  truck 
to  the  railroad  engines,  relying  upon  the  guiding  control  of  the  flanges 
on  the  wheels,  in  connection  with  the  propulsive  power  in  the  same 
engine. 

The  English  plan  of  engine  was  found  not  suited  to  the  sharp 
curves  sometimes  necessary  on  American  railroads.  An  English- 
built  engine  was  for  many  years  used  on  the  Camden  and  Amboy 
Railroad,  by  adding  a  pair  of  small  pilot  wheels,  connected  to  an 
incline  frame,  in  front ;  but  this  plan  very  soon  gave  way  to  the 
mcfdern  eight- wheel  locomotive,  substantially  as  invented  by  Horatio 
Allen,  having  four  driving-wheels  in  the  rear,  on  two  parallel  axles 
attached  to  a  rigid  frame,  and  a  four-wheel  swivelling  truck  in  front, 

*  Compiled  for  this  volume,  from  records  and  proofs  in  the  cases  of  Winans  vs. 
Orsamus,  Eaton  et  al. ;  Mathews  vs.  The  Pittsburg,  Fort  Wayne  and  Chicago  Bail- 
road  Company  ;  and  the  patents  of  Campbell,  Eastwick,  and  Harrison,  by  Hon. 
Wm.  Wheeler  Hubbel,  of  Philadelphia. 

329 


330  APPENDIX, 

adapted  to  run  equally  well  on  both  curved  and  straight  lines  of 
road,  and  at  the  highest  speed. 

The  first  engine  with  a  single  pair  of  driving-wheels  in  the  rear, 
on  an  axle  attached  to  the  main  frame,  with  side  cylinders,  and  a 
four-wheel  swivelling  truck  in  front,  operating  with  a  free  motion, 
guided,  restrained,  and  controlled  only  by  the  flanges  on  the  wheels 
acting  against  the  rails,  and  not  affected  by  either  cylinder  connec- 
tions or  draft  couplings,  was  built  by  John  B.  Jervis,  of  New  York, 
Civil  Engineer,  in  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-two.  This  engine 
had  the  propulsive  power  and  adhesion  entirely  independent  of  the 
guiding  action  of  the  truck,  which  enabled  it  to  run  with  ease  on  a 
curved  or  straight  track,  and  was  used  on  the  Mohawk  and  Hudson 
Railroad  ;  it  had  six  wheels,  and  was  named  the  "Experiment." 
Many  engines  on  this  plan  were  afterwards  built,  and  did  good  ser- 
vice ;  but  they  were  necessarily  light,  as  the  whole  propulsive  effect 
resulted  from  the  adhesion  of  a  single  pair  of  wheels,  and  any  addi- 
tion to  the  weight  of  the  engine,  or  increase  of  speed  of  the  train, 
was  attended  with  rapid  destruction  of  the  rails. 

In  order  to  distribute  the  weight  more  completely,  Henry  R. 
Campbell  patented,  in  eighteen,  hundred  and  thirty-six  the  duplica- 
tion of  the  driving  wheels,  and  built  an  experimental  engine,  which 
was  tried  on  the  Philadelphia,  Germantown  and  Norristown  Bail- 
road,  but  was  not  purchased  by  that  Company.  It  was  afterwards 
sent  to  the  Long  Island  Railroad.  Though  this  locomotive  was  a 
step  in  the  way  of  improvement,  it  was  not  a  success ;  there  being  no 
means  employed  to  equally  distribute  the  weight  between  the  driving 
wheels,  or  to  prevent  excessive  battering  of  the  undulating  rails,  as 
the  weight  of  the  engine  was  increased. 

For  the  purpose  of  equalizing  the  weight  and  action  of  the  four 
driving  wheels,  an  engine  named  the  "  Hercules,"  was  in  the  summer 
of  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-seven,  designed  by  A.  M.  Eastwick 
and  Joseph  Harrison,  Jr.,  and  put  in  use  on  the  Beaver  Meadow 
Railroad  in  Pennsylvania.  Mr.  Eastwick  obtained  a  patent  for  his 
improvement.  It  consisted  of  a  separate  frame  at  the  rear,  under 
the  main  frame,  with  the  two  sets  of  driving  wheels  attached  to  this 
under  frame,  which  was  rigid  and  vibrated  vertically.  This  accom- 
modated itself  to  undulations,  alike  on  both  rails,  but  not  to  those 
in  one  rail  only,  which  are  the  most  numerous. 

Joseph  Harrison,  Jr.,  in  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-eight, 
improved  upon  Mr.  Eastwick's  patent  by  making  the  pairs  of  driv- 
ing wheels  on  each  side  of  the  engine  to  independently  equalize  the 


APPENDIX.  331 

weight  and  shocks,  so  as  to  conform  to  undulations  as  they  occurred 
on  either  side  of  the  road. 

This  engine  did  not  demonstrate  much  superiority  over  the  East- 
wick  engine  until  the  equal  distribution  of  the  weight  and  concus- 
sion, arising  from  undulations  of  the  track  upon  all  the  wheels,  was 
so  accomplished,  that  at  no  time  should  the  entire  weight  or  shock 
of  either  side  be  thrown  upon  any  one  wheel  or  pair  of  wheels. 
This  was  effected  by  Mr.  Harrison  by  applying  parallel  driving  wheel 
axles  directly  to  pedestals  in  the  main  frame,  with  the  addition  of  a 
compensating  lever  between  the  axle  bearings  on  each  side  of  the 
engine. 

With  the  equalizing  principle  of  Harrison  in  the  arrangement  of 
the  driving  wheels  came  an  increased  weight  of  engine,  and  conse- 
quently increased  power  of  traction,  with  diminished  wear  upon  the 
rails. 

Garrett  Eastwick  &  Co.  built  the  first  engine,  constructed  on  this 
system,  for  the  Beaver  Meadow  Railroad,  immediately  after  building 
the  "Hercules."  They  constructed  engines  upon  this  plan  for 
several  other  railroads  ;  and  their  success  became  established,  and 
general. 

The  invention  of  this  arrangement  of  the  driving  wheels  was 
accompanied  by  other  incidental  inventions  and  improvements  by 
these  ingenious  mechanics,  and  the  engines  constructed  by  them 
accomplished  high  speed,  relieved  the  destructive  wear  upon  the 
roadway,  and  admitted  a  large  increase  in  the  weight,  and  con- 
sequently improvement  in  tractive  power  in  the  engine. 

One  of  these  engines,  in  use  on  the  Philadelphia  and '  Heading 
Railroad  in  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-one,  particularly  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  Russian  engineers,  Colonel  Molnikoff  and 
Colonel  Krafts,  who  were  commissioned  by  the  Emperor  Nicholas 
to  examine  and  report  upon  the  various  railroads  and  railroad 
machinery  then  in  operation  in  Europe  and  America. 

The  result  of  their  examinations  was  favorable  to  the  American 
railroad  system,  and  the  eight- wheel  engine  was  deemed  the  best  for 
use  in  their  own  country.  They  consequently  made  a  contract  with 
Eastwick  &  Harrison  by  which  their  works  in  Philadelphia  were 
discontinued,  and  they,  with  Thomas  Winans,  of  Baltimore,  removed 
to,  and  built  up  the  same  system  in,  Russia.  In  the  mean  time 
engines  upon  their  plans  were  extensively  manufactured  and  used  on 
the  rapidly  increasing  railroads  of  this  country,  in  England,  and  on. 
the  Continent. 


GENERAL   INDEX. 


PAOB 

Alleghany  and  Ohio  Kivers,  Islands  Surveyed  by  Ellicott 24 

Aqueduct  at  Little  Falls,  Erie  Canal 62 

Aqueduct  across  Mohawk,  Erie  Canal 63 

Albany  and  West  Stockbridge  Railroad 180 

Albany  Eural  Cemetery 217 

Albany  Water  Works 217 

Anderson,  Col.  Kichard  C.,  Civil  Engineer. 287 

Aqueduct,  Wire  Suspension,  across  Alleghany  Kiver 303 

Aqueducts,   "             "           on  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal 304 

Allen,  Horatio,  C.  E.,  Inventor  of  Eight- Wheel  Locomotive 329 

• 

Boundary  between  United  States  and  Spanish  Possessions,  Survey  of 28 

Broadhead,  Charles  C.,  Engineer  Erie  Canal 56 

Baldwin,  Loammi,  C.  E 83-128 

Bernard,  General,  Opinion  of  Canvass  White 89 

David  Stanhope,  Biography  of 91 

«  '  Birthplace  and  Progenitors  of. 91 

1  *  Education 92 

1  '  Removal  to  Constantia,  Oneida  Lake 93 

«  '  Sons  of 94 

'  «  Employed  by  Benj.  Wright,  on  Erie  Canal 94 

'  '  Constructs  Rochester  Aqueduct 95 

«  «  Plans  System  of  Canals  of  Ohio 99 

Bates,  David,  Civil  Engineer 107 

"          "       Stanhope,  Retirement  from  Professional  Life 107 

Bryant,  Gridley,  Biography  of. 119 

"  ««        Birthplace  and  Early  Life 119 

Bunker  Hill  Monument. 121 

Bryant,  Gridley,  Death  of. 130 

Blickensderfer,  J.,  Jr.,  Consulting  Engineer 162 

Beaver  Canal  Company,  Ohio 203 

Brooklyn  and  Jamaica  Railroad 208 

Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  Report  on,  1828 225 

Barney,  Lieut.  Joshua,  U.  S.  A 225 

Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  Chartered  1827 228 

"  "  "          Surveys  Extended  to  Wheeling 248 

"  "  "         Summits  and  Grades. ..  .248 


334  GENERAL  INDEX 


PA.GK 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  Controversy  Regarding  Location  of  Western 

Division 277 

"  "  "          Long  Tunnels ....249 

Basket  Ride  over  Niagara  River 273 

Benedict,  Roswell  G.,  Civil  Engineer 294 

Beaver  River,  Slack  Water  and  Canal,  Ohio 302 

Clock,  Musical,  made  by  Ellicott 18 

Cumberland  Road 19 

"Conveyer"  for  grain 20 

Clinton,  Governor  De  Witt 24,  37,  41 

Cost  of  Erie  Canal ;  Engineer's  Estimate,  1817 57 

Contract,  first  made  for  work  on  Erie  Canal 57 

Colden,  Hon.  Cadwallader  D.,  Memoir  of  Erie  Canal. 64 

Canadian  Ship  Canals 71 

Cruger,  Alfred,  Civil  Engineer 72 

Cuba,  Island  of,  Railway,  1835 71 

Crank  Motion,  Theory  of,  Roebling 323 

Canals,  Impetus  given  to  Construction  of 87 

Clay,  Henry,  Opinion  of  Canvass  White 90 

Clinton,  Governor,  Visits  Ohio  Canals 101 

Chenango  Canal,  Survey  and  Location  of 106 

Combined  Locks  at  Lockport,  Erie  Canal * 112 

"              "                "                "           Viewof 114 

Chenango  Canal,  Summit  Water  Supply 115 

Cumberland  and  Pittsburgh  Canal  Survey,  by  Roberts 116 

Cars,  Eight  Wheel,  of  Gridley  Bryant's 124 

Columns,  Boston  Court  House,  Weight  of 125 

Clay,  Henry,  First  Railroad  Ride 138 

Cha-pine,  Miami  Chief,  Anecdote  of 145 

Credit  Mobilier,  Union  Pacific  Railroad 162 

Carthagena  and  Magdalena  Canal,  South  America 175 

Childe,  Capt.  John,  Biography  of 177 

"            "            Birthplace  and  Parentage 177 

•«            "           Educational  Advantages 178 

"            "           Military  Service 178 

"            "           Anecdote  of 180 

"            "           Chief  Engineer,  Mobile  and  Ohio  Railroad 182 

Cleveland,  Columbus  and  Cincinnati  Railroad 197 

Cleveland,  Painesville  and  Ashtabula  Railroad ; 197 

Conneaut  Lake  and  Lake  Erie  Canal,  Penn 204 

Croton  Dam,  Location  of 211 

Cook,  Lieut.  William,  U.  S.  Army 225 

Carrollton  Viaduct,  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad 226 

Carroll,  Charles,  of  Carrolton 230 

Cooper,  Peter,  Constructs  First  American  Locomotive 231 

"            "       Locomotive,  Description  of 232 

"            "               "           Illustration  of. 233 

Cascade  Canal,  California 295 


GENERAL  INDEX.  335 

PAGE 

California  Fluming  Company 296 

Cherokee  Mines,  California 297 

Campbell,  Henry  R.,  Mechanical  Engineer 330 

De  Witt,  Simon,  Surveyor-General  of  New  York 24,  39 

District  of  Columbia,  Survey  of 27 

Dr.  Rush 29,  33 

Dr.  Priestly 29 

Dimensions  of  Erie  Canal  Determined,  1817 56 

Delaware  and  Raritan  Canal,  Difficulties  of  Construction 89 

Derrick,  Portable,  Invented  by  Gridley  Bryant 120 

Dumping  Car,  Rotary,  Invented  by  Harbach 197 

Douglass,  David  Bates,  Biography  of 199 

"  "  '«       Birthplace  and  Parentage 199 

"  "          "       Appointed  Cadet  at  West  Point 200 

"  "  "       Military  Service 200 

"  "          "       Chief  Engineer,  Morris  Canal 204 

"  "          "       Professor  Natural  Philosophy,  N.  Y.  University 208 

"  "  "       Surveys  for  Water  Supply,  New  York  City 208 

"  "          "       Chief  Engineer,  Croton  Water  Works 211 

"  "          "       Elected  President  Kenyou  College,  Ohio 215 

"  "          "       Professor  Mathematics,  Hobart  College 217 

"  "          "       Death  and  Memorial 219 

Douglass,  Rev.  Charles  Edward 219 

Andrew  Ellicott 219 

Rev.  Malcolm 21& 

"        Henry 219 

Dillahunty,  Lieut.  John  L.,  TJ.  S.  Army 225 

Eight  Wheel  Car  Controversy 127 

Edgefield  and  Kentucky  Railroad 187 

Ellet,  Col.  Charles,  Jr.,  Biography  of 257 

"  "  Birthplace  and  Education. 258 

"  "  Joins  Engineer  Corps 258 

"  "  Proposes  Wire  Suspension  Bridge,  1832 260 

"  "  Chief  Engineer  James  River  and  Kanawha  Canal 261 

"  "  Essays  on  Laws  of  Trade 263 

Proposes  Wire  Bridge  at  St.  Louis. 264 

"  "  Why  Railroads  are  not  successful 265 

"  "  Chosen  President  Schuylkill  Navigation  Company. . .  269 

"  "  Letter  on  Niagara  Railroad  Suspension  Bridge 270 

"  "  Appointed  Chief  Engineer,  Hempfield  Railroad 277 

"  "  "  "  "          Central  Virginia  Railroad.  278 

"  "  Commission  in  the  Army t 281 

"  "  Domestic  habits 284 

"  "  Death  of 283 

Erie  and  Ohio  Canal,  first  Survey  of 287 

Eastwich,  A.  M.,  Mechanical  Engineer 330 

Ellicott,  Andrew,  Biography  of 16 


336  GENERAL  INDEX. 


Ellicott,  Andrew,  Senior  ..................................................  16 

Ellicott,  Mrs.,  Lines  by  ..................................................  17 

Ellicott,  Joseph  .......................................................  (.  18 

Evans,  Mrs.  Catharine  ...............................................  ....  18 

Ellicott's  Mills  .............................  .............................  19 

Ellicott,  Jonathan  ......................................................  19 

Elevator  m  Mills  ........................................................  20 

Evans,  Oliver,  Millwright  and  MiUer's  Guide  ..............................  20 

Ellicott,  Thomas  ........................................................  20 

Ellicott,  John,  Experiments  in  Steamboats  ...............................  20 

Ewing,  John  ............................................................  21 

Ellicott,  Andrew,  appointed  Major  in  the  Revolution  .......................  22 

Ellicott,  Benjamin  ......................................................  25 

Ellicott,  Joseph  ....................................  .  ....................  25 

Ellicott,  Andrew,  just  claims  neglected  by  Federal  Government  ..............  30 

"            "        Only  Astronomer  in  the  United  States,  1801  ..............  31 

"            "        Letter  to  Monsieur  De  Lambre  ..........................  33 

"            "        Journal  published  1803  ..........................   .......  33 

"  "        Letter  to  Jefferson,   accepting  appointment  of  Surveyor- 

General  ............................................  34 

"            «'        Appointed  Professor  of  Mathematics  at  West  Point  ........  34 

Erie  Canal,  influence  and  power  of  ....................................  .....  37 

'*           First  Appropriation  for  Surveys  ...............................  39 

"            First  Report  of  Commissioners  ................................  41 

Engineers  of  Erie  Canal,  Difficulty  in  obtaining  ...........................  54 

Erie  Canal,  system  adopted  for  construction  of  ............................  57 

"            Middle  Section  completed  ...................................  58 

11           Ceremony  of  letting  in  Water  on  Long  Level  ...................  58 

••           Report  of  Commissioners,  1818  ................................  57 

«               «        »         "         "        1820  ................................  59 

"           Tolls  first  levied  ..............  ,  ........  .  .....................  59 

"           Rock  cutting  through  mountain  ridge  .........................  61 

Erie  and  Kalamazoo  Railroad  ............................................  107 

Erie  Canal,  Surveys  for  enlargement  of,  1835  ..............................  117 

Foundry  at  Elkridge  Landing  .............................................     19 

Fitch,  John,  first  Steamboat,  1786  ........................................     21 

Franklin,  Dr.  Benjamin  ................................................  23,  33 

Forman,  Hon.  Joshua,  secures  first  legislation  on  Erie  Canal  ...............     39 

Farmington  Canal,  Conn  ............  ,  ..................................  70,  87 

Feeder  Dam,  constructed  by  Canvass  White  near  Fort  Plain  ................     82 

Franklin  and  Warren  Railroad,  Ohio  ......................................  1  76 

Fairmount  Wire  Bridge  .................................................  268 

Forrer,  Samuel,  Biography  of  ...............................  .............  286 

"          "        Birthplace  and  Boyhood  ...............................  .  .  286 

"         "        Joins  Engineer  Corps  of  Judge  Geddes  ....................  287 

"         "        Locates  Line  of  Miami  and  Erie  Canal  .....................  288 

"         "        Appointed  Consulting  Engineer,  State  of  Indiana  ...........  289 

"         "        Locates  Line  of  Ohio  Central  Railroad  .  .  .  289 


GENERAL  INDEX.  337 


PAGE 
Forrer,  Samuel,  Generosity  of 291 

Georgia,  Northern  Boundary  Line,  by  Ellicott 34 

Geddes,  James,  Biography  of 36 

"  "        Early  Connection  with  Erie  Canal  ... 38 

"  "       Appointed  to  Explore  the  Route , 40 

"  "       Inexperience  of. 42 

Makes  Remarkable  Test  Level 42 

"  "       Makes  Final  Location  of  Champlain  Canal 43 

"  "       Surveys  Route  for  Canal  from  Ohio  River  to  Lake  Erie  43 

"  "  "  "        from  Sabago  Pond  to  Tide- Water, 

Maine 44 

"  "       Locates  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Canal,  1807 44 

"  "       Place  of  Birth  and  Education 45 

Gregory,  D.  S.,  Letter  to  Benj.  H.  Wright 68 

Guilford,  Samuel,  C.  E.,  Letter  from 81 

Genesee  Valley  Canal,  Surveys  of,  by  Judge  Bates 106 

Grand  Rapids  and  Indiana  Railroad 167 

Greenwood  Cemetery 213 

Gwynne,  Lieut.  Walter,  U.  S.  Army. 225 

"Hopper  Boy "  in  Mills 20 

Hawley,  Jesse,  Essays  on  Erie  Canal,  1807-8 39 

Hydrostatic  Locks,  Erie  Canal 64 

Hosack,  Dr.  David,  Letter  to  Judge  Wright 80 

Hopkins,  John,  Civil  Engineer 88 

Henry,  John  R.,    "            " 105 

Hutchinson,  Holmes,  Civil  Engineer 117 

Hubbell,  Hon.  Wheeler 125 

Harlem  Railroad,  Gen.  Swift,  Chief  Engineer  of 138 

Harbach,  Frederick,  Biography  of 195 

"                "           Birthplace  and  Parentage 195 

"                "           Chief  Engineer  Pittsfield  and  North  Adams  Railroad  . . .  196 

41                "                "            "        Hartford  and  Springfield  Railroad 196 

'«  "  "  "        Mich.   Southern  and  Northern  Indiana 

Railroad 197 

Hale,  Rev.  Dr.,  Tribute  to  Memory  of  Major  Douglass 220 

Hazard,  Lieut.  Richard  E.,  U.  S.  A 225 

Harrison,  William,  Civil  Engineer 225 

Havre-de-Grace  Railroad  Bridge 253 

Hydraulic  Works  at  Cherokee  Mines,  California 298 

Harrison,  Joseph,  Jr.,  Mechanical  Engineer 330 

Internal  Improvements  in  Pennsylvania,  1780. 31 

Improvement  Company,  Pennsylvania 32 

Irondequoit  Embankment,  Erie  CanaL 61,  95 

Indiana,  Canals  projected  in,  1835 145 

Internal  Improvement  Society,  Pennsylvania,  1825 174 

Inclined  Planes,  Morris  Canal 206 


338  GENERAL  INDEX. 


PAGE 

Johnson,  Dr.,  of  Virginia. 21 

Johnson,  Edwin  F.,  Civil  Engineer. 323 

Jerome,  Isaac,  Civil  Engineer 287 

Judah,  Theodore  J.,  Civil  Engineer 294 

Jervis,  John  B.,  Civil  Engineer .  330 


Samuel  H,  Biography  of 173 

"  "  Parentage 173 

"  "  Chief  Engineer  Mine  Hill  and  Schuylkill  Haven  Railroad.  174 

"        Philadelphia  and  Trenton  Eailroad 174 

"  "  "  "  and  Wilmington  Railroad...  174 

Knight,  Jonathan,  Biography  of 222 

"  "          Birthplace  and  Parentage 222 

"  "          Education,  how  acquired 223 

"  "          Valuable  Reports  of 239 

"  "          Illness  and  Death 241 

Kingwood  Tunnel,  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad 249 

Keefer,  Samuel,  Civil  Engineer 270 

Livingston  Indian  Lease  Company 27 

Longitude  from  Washington,  Ellicott's  Letter  to  President  Jefferson  on 30 

Little  Falls,  Aqueduct,  Erie  Canal.'. 62 

Lehigh  Coal  and  Navigation  Improvement 88 

Lake  Erie  and  Ohio  River  Canal 98 

"  '*'  "        Extract  from  Third  Annual  Report 98 

Louisville  and  Portland  Canal 105 

Lapham,  J.  A.,  Civil  Engineer 105 

Lockport  Locks,  Erie  Canal 112 

Land  Grant  by  Congress,  in  aid  of  Wabash  and  Erie  Canal 148 

Laramie  Canon,  Description  of 152 

Lafayette,  Triumphal  Arch,  Philadelphia 173 

Lexington  and  Frankfort  Railroad,  Ky 174 

Long,  Col.  Stephen  H 225 

Latrobe,  John  H.  B.,  Extracts  from  Lecture  by. 228 

Latrobe,  Benjamin  H.,  Biography  of 243 

"  "  Parentage 243 

"  "  Educated  to  the  Law 243 

"                "              Chief  Engineer  Baltimore  and  Port  Deposit  Railroad. .  245 
"                "              Keport  on  Location  of  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  . .  246 
"                "              Appointed  Chief  Engineer  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Bail- 
road 247 

"  "  President  Pittsburgh  and  Connellsville  Railroad 253 

"  "  Philadelphia,  Wilmington  and  Baltimore  Railroad 253 

"  "  Report  on  Hoosac  Tunnel 253 

"  "        East  River  Bridge 254 

Locomotive,  First  Eight-Wheel 329 

"          Early  History  of 330 

Monocacy  Bridge,  constructed  by  Ellicott 19 

Morris,  Robert;,  jpurchase  from  Phelps  &  Gorham 27 


GENERAL  INDEX.  339 

PAGE 

Morris,  Gouverneur,  first  suggests  the  Erie  Canal,  1803 39,  41 

Mohawk  Biver,  Survey  of,  by  Benj.  Wright,  1803 53 

Memorial,  from  City  of  New  York,  on  Erie  Canal 54 

Mountain  Ridge,  Locks,  Wright's  instructions  in  regard  to 95 

Cut 112 

Muscle  Shoals,  Tennessee  River,  Survey  for  Ship  Canal 116 

Mississippi  and  Lake  Pontchartrain,  Canal  Survey 116 

Miami  and  Erie  Canal,  Feeders 144 

McRea,  Col.  William,  Biography  of 170 

"           Birth  and  Parentage 170 

."         "         "           Military  Service 171 

"        "        "           Resigns  from  U.  S.  Army. 171 

Mobile  and  Ohio  Railroad,  Land  Grant 183 

Montreal  Docks,  Captain  Childe,  Engineer  of 188 

Mahlin,  J.,  Civil  Engineer 203 

Morris,  Elwood,  Civil  Engineer 269 

Mississippi  Valley,  Physical  Geography  of,  by  Ellet 277 

Memphis,  Naval  Battle  of 281 

Marsh,  Daniel,  Civil  Engineer ...  294 

Monongahela  Suspension  Bridge,  Roebling's 304 

New  York  State,  Western  Boundary  of,  fixed  by  Ellicott 25 

Niagara  Falls,  First  Survey  of,  by  Ellicott 26 

Niagara  River  Hydraulic  Company 107 

' '        Falls,  Ship  Canal,  Survey  of,  by  Roberts 114 

New  York,  Great  Fire  of  1835,  arrested  by  Gen.  Swift 134 

New  Orleans  and  Lake  Pontchartrain  Railroad 137 

Northern  New  York  Railroad 175 

Northwestern  Railroad,  Pa 176 

Nashville  and  Cincinnati  Railroad 186 

New  Orleans  and  Ohio  Railroad 187 

New  York,  University  Buildings 220 

National  Road,  Surveys  of 224 

New  York  and  Erie  Railroad,  Surveys  of 260 

Niagara  Suspension  Bridge,  proposed,  1845 270 

"  "  "         Opinion  of  Engineers  on 270 

North  Fork,  Hydraulic  Company,  Cal 295 

Observatory,  Astronomical,  none  in  the  United  States,  1802 33 

Ohio  Canals,  commencement  of  Work  on. 100 

Olmstead,  Professor,  Letter  on  Maj,  Douglass 216 

Oliver  Viaduct,  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad 227 

Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  plan  for  Improvement  of,  Ellet 278 

Plaster  of  Paris,  introduced  by  Ellicott 19 

Porter,  Andrew 23 

Pennsylvania,  Northern  Boundary,  by  Andrew  Ellicott 24 

Phelps  and  Gorham,  purchase  Mass,  claim  to  Western  New  York 25 

Presque  Isle,  Triangle,  Boundary  of 26 


340  GENERAL  INDEX. 

PAGE 
Porter,  Augustus 28 

Philosophical  Society,  Philadelphia ".     29 

President  Hale,  Tribute  to  Memory  of  Andrew  Ellicott 35 

Perkins,  Col.  T.  H 122 

Pile  Heads,  under  water,  Saw  for 197 

Philadelphia,  Germantown,  and  Morristown  Railroad 208 

Parr's  Ridge,  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad 246 

Quincy  Railroad,  Mass 122 

Quebec  Cemetery 217 

Rolling  Mill  and  Blast  Furnace,  First,  at  Baltimore 20 

Rittenhouse,  David 21,  23,  33 

Road  from  Reading,  Penn.,  to  Presque  Isle,  Survey  of 28 

Richardson,  John,  Breaking  Ground  for  Erie  Canal,  1817 57 

Roberts,  W.  Milnor,  Letter  from 83 

"          Anecdote  of 84 

Rotterdam  Iron  Works,  Oneida  Lake 93 

Rochester  Aqueduct,  Wright's  Instructions  in  regard  to 96 

"  "          View  and  Description  of 97 

"  "          Enlargement  of 117 

Rochester  and  Carthage  Railroad,  Surveys  by  Judge  Bates 106 

Roberts,  Nathan  S.,  Biography  of 109 

"  Birthplace  and  Early  Life 110 

"  "  Joins  Engineer  Corps  of  Benjamin  Wright Ill 

Rock  Fish  Gap,  Kailroad  over 278 

Hoebling,  John  A.f  Biography  of 301 

"  "         Birthplace  and  Education 301 

"  "         Immigration  to  United  States 302 

"  "         Attempts  Farming 302 

"  "         Returns  to  his  Profession 302 

"  "         Locates  Line  of  Pennsylvania  Railroad .' 303 

"  "         Commences  Manufacture  of  Wire  Rope 303 

"  .  "         Letter  on  Niagara  Suspension  Bridge,  1847 306 

"  "         Niagara  Railway  Suspension,  Built  by  Roebling 309 

"  "         Report  on  Cincinnati  Bridge 312 

"  "  "          East  River  Bridge 317 

"  "         Moral  Traits  of 325 

Russian  Railway  Commission  to  the  United  States 331 

Stencil  Plates,  introduced  by  Ellicott 20 

Saxton,  Frederick 25 

Surveyor-General  of  the  United  States,  tendered  to  and  accepted  by  Ellicott. .  29 

Seward,  William  H.,  remarks  on  first  Surveys  of  Erie  Canal 40 

Salt  Spring  Reservation,  incident  in  Survey  of 42 

Schuylkill  Navigation  Company    86 

Stockton,  Com.  Robert  F 89 


GENERAL  INDEX.  341 

PAGE 

Scriba,  George,  Oneida  Lands 93 

Swift,  Gen.  Joseph  G.,  Biography  of , ,  132 

14         "         "         "    Ancestors  of 132 

"        «'        "        "    Academic  Education 133 

"      •"        "        "    Cadet,  U.  S.  Army 133 

"         "         "         "    Promotions '...   133 

"        "        "        "    Services  of,  in  War  of  1812 134 

"    Diary  kept  by. 139 

"        "         "        "    Sons  of 140 

"        '«        "        "    Death  of 140 

Swift,  McKea,  Civil  Engineer. 139 

Seymour,  Col.  Silas ,  Consulting  Engineer 150 

Swift,  Capt.  William  H 179 

St.  Lawrence  River,  improvement  at  Lake  St.  Peter 187 

Stebbins,  Herman,  Civil  Engineer 196 

Steam  on  American  Railroads,  first  applied 231 

Ship  Canal,  Surveys  for,  at  Richmond,  Va 261 

Schuylkill  Navigation,  Enlargement  of 269 

Snyder,  Antes,  Civil  Engineer 269 

Smith,  James  F. ,  Civil  Engineer 269 

Suspension  Bridge  at  Wheeling,  destroyed 275 

"  "        Across  Connecticut  River,  proposed  by  Ellet 276 

"  "        at  Cincinnati,  proposed  by  Ellet 276 

"  "        Across  Potomac  River,  proposed  by  Ellet 279 

Steam  Battering  Ram,  proposed  by  Ellet 279 

Serrell,  General  Edward  W.,  Civil  Engineer 270 

Suspension  Bridges,  First  in  United  States 306 

Suspension  Bridge,  Cincinnati  and  Covington,  Roebling 311 

11        Pittsburgh,  Roebling's 316 

"  "        East  River,  New  York,  Roebling's 317 

"  "        East  River 322 

Turnpike,  Baltimore  and  Fredericksburgh 19 

Thomas,  David,  Engineer  Erie  Canal 60 

Turn-table,  Railroad  Switch  and  Turnout,  by  Gridley  Bryant 121 

Troy  and  Albany  Railroad 181 

Tennessee  and  Alabama  Railroad 186 

Trimble,  Lieut.  Isaac,  U.  S.  A 225 

Thomas,  Philip  E.,  President,  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad 225 

Thomas  Viaduct,  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad 227 

Templeman,  John,  Bridge  Architect 307 

Union  Canal,  Penn.,  Lock  Controversy 83 

Union  Pacific  Railroad,  Explorations  for 152 

Union  Canal,  Penn. ,  Description  of 327 

Virginia  and  Pennsylvania  Boundary  Line,  Survey  of 23 

Variable  Cut-off,  Invented  by  Capt.  Childe 189 


342  GENERAL  INDEX. 


PAGE 

Washington  City,  First  Survey  of 27 

Wilkins,  John,  Jr 28 

Weston,  Wm.,  an  English  Engineer 51 

Wright,  Benjamin,  Biography  of 48 

Western  Inland  Lock  Navigation,  Improvements,  1792 51 

Wood  Creek  Improvements,  Incidents  in  Survey  of 51 

Watson,  Elkanah 59 

White,  Canvass,  Biography  of . . . 74 

"  •'        Birthplace  and  Parentage 74 

"  "        Early  Inventive  Talent 75 

"  "        Voyage  to  Europe 76 

"  "        Lieutenant  in  War  of  1812 77 

"  "        Enters  Engineering  Service  under  Benjamin  Wright 77 

Visits  England 78 

"  "        Discovers  Hydraulic  Cement 78 

"  "        Report  on  Water  Supply  for  New  York 86 

Windsor  Lock,  Connecticut  River 87 

White,  Josiah,  Superintendent  Lehigh  Coal  and  Navigation  Company 88 

Warford,  A.  B.,  Civil  Engineer 88 

White,  Hon.  Hugh,  Letter  from 90 

White,  Canvass,  Personal  Appearance 90 

Wiuans',  Ross,  Eight  Wheel  Car. 128 

Winans  vs.  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 127 

Williams,  Jesse  L.,  Biography  of 141 

"          Birthplace  and  Parentage 141 

"          Early  Education 141 

"  "          Chooses  his  Profession 142 

"  "          Commences  Engineering  under  Samuel  Forrer 143 

"  "          Chief  Engineer  of  Wabash  and  Erie  Canal 145 

11  "          Appointed  State  Engineer  of  Indiana. 146 

"  "          Chief  Engineer    Pittsburgh,  Fort  Wayne  and  Chicago 

Railroad 149 

"             "         Appointed    Government    Director    Union    Pacific    Rail- 
road   150 

"  «          Letter  to  Secretary  of  Interior 151 

"              "          Report  and  Letters  on   Route  of   Union    Pacific  Rail- 
road  152 

Warren,  Major-General 162 

Williams,  Jesse  L.,  reports  Estimate  of  Cost  of  Union  Pacific  Railroad. 162 

"  "          Letter  to  Oliver  Ames 165 

"  "          Receiver  Grand  Rapids  and  Indiana  Railroad. . , 167 

Wisconisco  Canal,  Penn 175 

Whistler,  Major  George  W 179 

Winans'  Friction  Wheel 229 

Wheeling  Suspension  Bridge,  Built  by  Ellet 275 

Watson,  William  Stuart,  Biography  of 293 

"  "  "       Birthplace  and  Parentage 293 

"  "  "       Appointed  Chief  Engineer  Baltimore  and  Pittsburgh 

Railroad..  .  294 


GENERAL  INDEX.  343 


PAGB 
Watson,  William  Stuart,  Appointed  Chief  Engineer  Placer  Company  Canal, 

Cal 295 

"  "  "       in  Charge  of  various  Kailroads  in  California 295 

Winans,  Thomas,  Mechanical  Engineer 331 

York  and  Wrightsville  Railroad 179 

Young,  William  C.,  Civil  Engineer , 260 


OF 


Civil  and  Military  Engineers 


OF 


BY 

General  CHARLES  B.  STUART,  C.  E. 

1  VOLUME,  8vo,  344  PP.,  EMBELLISHED  WITH  10  FINELY  EXECUTED  POR- 

TRAITS ON  STEEL  OF  EMINENT  ENGINEERS,  AND  ILLUSTRATED  BY 

MANY    ENGRAVINGS    OF  SOME   OF  THE  MOST 

IMPORTANT    AND    ORIGINAL   WORKS 

CONSTRUCTED  IN  AMERICA. 

Cloth  ...........  $5.OO.  Morocco  Gilt  .....  6.00. 


Letter  from  General    GEO.  B.  McCLELLAN. 
"  MY  DEAR  GENERAL  : 

"I  am  very  glad  to  learn  that  you  propose  carrying  into  effect 
your  intention  of  recording  the  services  of  the  Engineers  of  our 
country.  I  am  sure  that  the  results  will  prove  to  be  a  work  of  great 
interest  and  value,  and  shall  be  very  much  pleased  to  possess  it. 
You  have  my  earnest  wish  for  complete  success." 


Letter  from  Major-General  Q.  A.  GILLMORE. 
"  GENERAL  : 

"  There  can  be  but  one  opinion  among  the  intelligent  men  of  our 
own  country  with  regard  to  the  value  of,  and  the  prevailing  desire 
for,  such  a  work;  and  I  sincerely  hope,  for  the  honor  and  credit  of 
our  profession,  that  you  will  receive  such  degree  of  encouragement 
and  material  aid  as  will  enable  you  to  carry  forward  the  enterprise 
to  a  successful  termination." 

•D.  VAN  NOSTRAND,  Publisher, 
23  Murray  Street  and  27  Warren  Street. 

jj.*^  Copies  sent  free  by  mail  on  receipt  of  price. 


NAVAL  DKY  DOCKS 


OF    THE 


United    States. 

By  General  C.  B.  STUART. 

Illustrated  with  Twenty -four  Fine  Engravings  on  Steel. 
Fourth  Edition,  4to,  Cloth $6.00. 


"  This  work  is  divided  into  two  parts.  The  first  describes  the 
Granite  Dry  Dock;  the  second,  the  Floating  Dry  Docks.  To  give 
any  of  the  details,  or  even  the  results,  of  these  great  public  works, 
is  foreign  to  our  present  purpose;  and  we  will  only  add  the  hope, 
that  the  success  of  this  fine  publication  may  be  such  as  to  induce 
our  distinguished  author  to  undertake  the  treatment  of  other  de- 
partments of  our  public  works  in  the  same  elaborate  and  thorough 
manner." — Silliman's  Journal. 

"  The  plan  is  one  which  must  command  the  interest  of  every 
friend  of  internal  improvements,  of  every  American  patriot,  of  every 
lover  of  scientific  progress.  We  rejoice  that  the  work  has  fallen 
into  such  competent  hands  as  those  of  the  present  author.  He  has 
shown  himself  in  this  volume  an  effective  writer,  as  well  as  an  ac- 
complished engineer.  His  descriptions  are  remarkable  for  their 
clearness.  He  uses  no  superfluous  words.  His  style  is  business- 
like, economical,  and  well  proportioned.  Few  makers  of  books  have 
done  so  much  themselves  worthy  of  an  enduring  record;  and  still 
fewer  have  \\ritteh  a  narrative,  in  which  their  own  deeds  figure 
largely,  with  so  much  modesty  and  good  taste.  We  hope  this  ex- 
pensive work  will  not  fail  to  receive  the  appreciation  which  it  ought 
to  command  It  is  an  honor  to  the  country,  and  should  be  sus- 
tained by  every  true  American." — New  York  Tribune. 


23  Murray  Street  and  27  Warren  Street. 
***  Copies  sent  free  by  mail  on  receipt  of  price. 


THE 


OF    THE 


BY 

CHARLES    B.    STUART, 

Engineer-in- Chief  of  the  United  States  Navy. 

ILLUSTKATED  WITH  36  FINE  ENGRAVINGS, 
I   Vol.  4to,  Cloth $  1 2 . oo. 


"  '  THE  NAVAL  AND  MAIL  STEAMERS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,'  by  Chas. 
B.  Stuart,  a  gentleman  whose  experience  and  position  as  Engineer- 
in-Chief  of  the  U.  S.  Navy,  entitles  any  work  on  such  a  subject,  em- 
anating from  his  pen,  to  the  greatest  consideration  and  respect. 
The  work  is  a  fine  quarto  volume,  profusely  and  elegantly  illus- 
trated; and,  as  accomplished  judges  universally  admit,  one  of  the 
most  thoroughly  scientific  books  ever  published  in  this  country.  It 
is  a  book  that  should  be  found  in  the  hands  of  every  American  En- 
gineer, and  indeed  of  every  man  who  loves  the  progressive  glory  of 
his  country.'' — Boston  Post.  ^ 


"A  GREAT  NATIONAL  WORK. — We  have  felt  a  glow  of  pride  in  turn- 
ing over  the  leaves  of  this  magnificent  work.  Before  the  press  of 
Europe  and  America  is  half  done  sounding  the  praises  of  the  '  Naval 
Dry  Docks  of  the  United  States,'  the  indefatigable  author  surprises 
us  with  a  second  number  of  his  great  series  of  national  works,  enti- 
tled the  '  Naval  and  Mail  Steamers  of  the  United  States.'  He  has 
laid  our  country  and  the  scientific  world  under  new  and  everlasting 
obligations  for  the  important  information  contained  in  this  splendid 
volume." — New  York  Mirror. 

D.  VAN  NOSTRAND,  Publisher, 

23  Murray  Street  and  27  Warren  Street. 


MILITARY  BOOKS. 


M 


ILITARY  AND  POLITICAL  LIFE  OF  THE  EMPEROR 
NAPOLEON.  By  BARON  JOMINI,  General-in-Chief  and  Aid-de- 
Camp  to  the  Emperor  of  Russia.  Translated  from  the  French,  with 
notes,  by  H.  W.  HALLECK,  LL.  D.,  Major-General  U.  S.  Army.  4 
vols.,  royal  8vo.  With  an  Atlas  of  60  Maps  and  Plans.  Cloth, 
$25;  Half-Calf  or  Morocco,  $35;  Half-Russia,  $37.50. 

**  The  Atlas  attached  to  this  version  of  JOMINI'S  Napoleon  adds  very  materially  to  its  value.  It 
contains  sixty  Maps,  illustrative  of  Napoleon's  extraordinary  military  career,  beginning  with  the 
immortal  Italian  campaigns  of  1796,  and  closing  with  the  decisive  Campaign  of  Flanders,  in  1815, 
the  last  map  showing  the  battle  of  Wavre.  These  maps  take  the  reader  to  Italy,  Egypt,  Pales- 
tine, Germany,  Moravia,  Russia,  Spain,  Portugal,  and  Flanders ;  and  their  number  and  variety, 
and  the  vast  and  various  theatres  of  action  which  they  indicate,  testify  to  the  immense  extent 
of  Napoleon's  operations,  and  to  the  gigantic  character  of  his  power.  They  are  admirably  pre- 
pared, being  as  remarkable  for  the  beauty  of  their  execution  as  for  their  strict  fidelity  as  illus- 
trations of  some  of  the  greatest  deeds  in  the  annals  of  human  warfare.  They  are  worthy  of  the 
work  to  which  they  belong,  which  has  been  most  excellently  presented  typographically,  and  de- 
serving of  the  place  which  it  has  taken  in  Mr.  Van  Nostrand's  noble  and  extensive  library  of 
military  publications."— Boston  Daily  Evening  Traveller. 

"  It  is  needless  to  say  anything  in  praise  of  JOMIKI  as  a  writer  on  the  science  of  war. 

u  General  HALLECK  has  laid  the  professional  soldier  and  the  student  of  military  history  under 
equal  obligations  by  the  service  he  has  done  to  the  cause  of  military  literature  in  the  preparation 
of  this  work  for  the  press.  His  rare  qualifications  for  the  task  thus  undertaken  will  be  ac- 
knowledged by  all. 

'  The  notes  with  which  the  text  is  illustrated  by  General  HALLECK  are  not  among  the  least  of 
the  merits  of  the  publication,  which,  in  this  respect,  has  a  value  not  possessed  by  the  original 
work."— National  Intelligencer. 

"  The  narrative  is  so  brief  and  clear,  and  the  style  so  simple  and  perspicuous,  that  it  will  b« 
found  as  interesting  to  unprofessional  readers  as  it  is  valuable  to  military  officers  and  students.** 


»**  This  is  the  only  English  translation  of  this  important  strategical  life  of  the  great  Napoleo*. 

THE    POLITICAL    AND    MILITARY    HISTORY    OF   THE 
CAMPAIGN   OF   WATERLOO.     Translated   from  the  French 
of  General  BARON  DE  JOMINI.      By  Col.  S.  V.  BENET,  U.   S.   Ord 
nance.     I  vol.,  i2mo,  cloth.     Third  edition.     $1.25. 


Military  Books.  3 

HTREATISE  ON  GRAND  MILITARY  OPERATIONS.  Illustrated 
J-  by  a  Critical  and  Military  History  of  the  Wars  of  Frederick  the 
Great.  With  a  summary  of  the  most  important  principles  of  the  Art 
of  War.  By  BARON  DE  JOMINI.  Illustrated  by  Maps  and  Plans. 
Translated  from  the  French  by  Col.  S.  B.  HOLABIRD,  A.  D.  C.,  U.  S. 
Army.  In  2  vols.,  8vo,  and  Atlas.  Cloth,  $15  ;  Half-Calf  or  Half- 
Morocco,  $21  ;  Half-Russia,  $22.50 

*'  It  is  universally  agreed  that  no  art  or  science  is  more  difficult  than  that  of  war ;  yet  by  an 
unaccountable  contradiction  of  the  human  mind,  those  who  embrace  this  profession  take  little 
or  no  pains  to  study  it.  They  seem  to  think  that  the  knowledge  of  a  few  insignificant  and  use- 
less trifles  constitute  a  great  officer.  This  art,  like  all  others,  is  founded  on  certain  and  fixed 
principles,  which  are  by  their  nature  invariable ;  the  application  of  them  only  can  be  varied." 

In  this  work  these  principles  will  be  found  very  fully  developed  and  illustrated  by  immediate 
application  to  the  most  interesting  campaigns  of  a  great  master.  The  theoretical  and  mechani- 
cal part  of  war  may  be  acquired  by  any  one  who  has  the  application  to  study,  powers  of  reflec- 
tion, and  a  sound,  clear  common  sense. 

Frederick  the  Great  has  the  credit  of  having  done  much  for  tactics.  He  introduced  the  close 
column  by  division  and  deployments  therefrom.  He  brought  his  army  to  a  higher  degree  of 
skill  than  any  other  in  manoeuvring  before  the  enemy  to  menace  his  wings  or  threaten  his  flanks. 

SCOTT'S  MILITARY  DICTIONARY.  Comprising  Technical 
Definitions ;  Information  on  Raising  and  Keeping  Troops  ;  Ac- 
tual service,  including  makeshifts  and  improved  materiel,  and  Law, 
Government,  Regulation,  and  Administration  relating  to  Land 
Forces.  By  Colonel  H.  L.  SCOTT,  Inspector-General  U.  S.  A.  i 
vol.,  large  8vo,  fully  illustrated.  Half-Morocco,  $6  ;  Half-Russia, 
$8  ;  Full-Morocco,  $10. 

*'  It  is  a  complete  Encyclopaedia  of  Military  Science,  and  fully  explains  everything  discovered 
In  the  art  of  war  up  to  the  present  time."— Philadelphia  Evening.  Bulletin. 
"  It  should  be  made  a  text-book  for  the  study  of  every  volunteer."— Harper's  Magazine. 

CAVALRY  ;  ITS  HISTORY,  MANAGEMENT,  AND  USES 
IN  WAR.  By  J.  ROEMER,  LL.D.,  late  an  Officer  of  Cavalry  in 
the  Service  of  the  Netherlands.  Elegantly  illustrated,  with  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-seven  fine  wood-engravings.  In  one  large  octavo 
volume,  beautifully  printed  on  tinted  paper.  Cloth,  $6  ;  Half-calf, 
$7-50. 

SUMMARY  OF  CONTENTS. — Cavalry  in  European  Armies  ;  Proportion  of 
Cavalry  to  Infantry ;  What  kind  of  Cavalry  desirable ;  Cavalry  indis- 
pensable in  War ;  Strategy  and  Tactics  ;  Organization  of  an  Army ; 
Route  Marches  ;  Rifled  Fire-Arms  ;  The  Charge  ;  The  Attack  ;  Cav- 
alry versus  Cavalry  ;  Cavalry  versus  Infantry  ;  Cavalry  versus  Artillery  ; 
Field  Service ;  Different  Objects  of  Cavalry ;  Historical  Sketches  of 
Cavalry  among  the  early  Greeks,  the  Romans,  the  Middle  Ages  ;  Dif- 
ferent kinds  of  Modern  Cavalry ;  Soldiers  and  Officers ;  Various  sys- 
tems of  Training  of  Cavalry  Horses  ;  Remounting ;  Shoeing ;  Veter- 
inary Surgeons,  Saddlery,  etc. ,  etc. 

WHAT  GENERAL  M'CLELLAN  SATS  OF  IT. 

•*  I  on  exceedingly  pleased  with  it,  and  regard  it  as  a  very  valuable  addition  to  our  militaty 
literature.  It  will  certainly  be  regarded  as  a  standard  work,  and  I  know  of  none  so  valuable  to 
our  cavalry  officers.  Its  usefulness,  however,  is  not  confined  to  officers  of  cavalry  alone,  but  J 
contains  a  great  deal  of  general  information  valuable  to  the  officers  of  the  other  arms  of  semi* 
especial!*  those  of  the  Staff." 


N 


D.  Van  Nostrand's  Publications. 

OLAN'S    SYSTEM    FOR    TRAINING    CAVALRY   HORSES 
By  KENNER  GARRARD,   Captain   Fifth  Cavalry,  Bvt.   Brig. -Gen. 
U.  S.  A.      i  vol.,  I2mo,  cloth.     24  lithographed  plates.     $2. 

/^OOKE'S  CAVALRY  TACTICS  ;  or,  Regulations  for  the  Instruo 

V^     tion,  Formations,  and  Movements  of  the  Cavalry  of  the  Army  and 

Volunteers  of  the  United  States.      100  illustrations,  i2mo.     Cloth,  $i. 

PATTEN'S  CAVALRY  DRILL.     Containing  Instructions  on  Foot ; 
Instruction  on  Horseback  ;  Basis  of  Instruction ;  School  of  the 
Squadron,    and    Sabre  Exercise.       93  Engravings.      I2mo,   paper. 
50  cents. 

ELEMENTS  OF  MILITARY  ART  AND  HISTORY.  By  EDWARD 
DE  LA  BARRE  DUPARCQ,  Chef  de  Bataillon  of  Engineers  in  the  Army 
of  France,  and  Professor  of  the  Military  Art  in  the  Imperial  School 
of  St.  Cyr.  Translated  by  Brigadier-General  GEO.  W.  CULLUM,  U. 
S.  A.,  Chief  of  the  Staff  of  Major-General  H.  W.  HALLECK,  General- 
in-Chief  U.  &  Army.  I  vol.,  8vo,  cloth.  $5. 

"  I  read  the  original  a  few  years  since,  and  considered  it  the  very  best  ^»\*rk  I  nad  seen  upou 
Ihe  subject.  General  Cullum's  ability  and  familiarity  with  the  technical  A"sguage  of  French  mil- 
itary writers,  are  a  sufficient  guarantee  of  the  correctness  of  his  translation 

"  H.  W.  HALLECK,  Major-general  U.  S.  A." 

"  I  have  read  the  book  with  great  interest,  and  trust  that  it  will  have  a  large  circulation.  K 
eannot  fail  to  do  good  by  spreading  that  very  knowledge,  the  want  of  which  among  our  new,  in 
*T.perienced,  and  untaught  soldiers,  has  cost  us  so  many  lives,  and  so  much  toil  and  treasure. 

"M.  C.  MEIG8,  Quartermaster-General  U.  S.  A." 

HpHE  CIVIL  AND  MILITARY  ENGINEERS  OF  AMERICA. 
A  By  Gen'l  CHARLES.  B.  STUART,  Author  of  ' '  Naval  Dry  Docks  of  the 
United  States,"  &c.,  &c.  Embellished  with  several  finely  executed 
portraits  on  steel  of  eminent  engineers,  and  illustrated  by  engravings 
of  some  of  the  most  important  and  original  works  constructed  in 
America.  8vo.  Cloth.  In  press. 


W 


EST  POINT  SCRAP  BOOK.  Being  a  Collection  of  Legends, 
Stories,  Songs,  &c.  By  Lieut.  O.  E.  WOOD,  U.  S.  A.  Profusely 
illustrated.  Beautifully  printed  on  tinted  paper.  8vo.  Cloth.  In 
press. 


THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  STRATEGY  AND  GRAND  TACTICS. 
Translated  from  the  French  of  General  G.  H.  DUFOUR.  By 
WILLIAM  P.  CRAIGHILL,  Captain  of  Engineers  U.  S.  Army,  and 
Assistant  Professor  of  Engineering,  U.  S.  Military  Academy,  West 
Point.  From  the  last  French  edition.  Illustrated.  In  I  vol., 
I2mo,  cloth.  $3. 

**  General  Dufour  is  a  distinguished  civil  and  military  engineer  and  a  practical  soldier,  and  ia 
Europe  one  of  the  recognized  authorities  on  military  matters.  He  holds  the  office  of  Chief  cl 
the  General  Staff  of  the  Army  of  Switzerland."— Evening  Post. 

"  Thie  work  upon  the  principles  of  strategy,  the  application  of  which  we  have  sorely  stood  la 
aeed  of  in  all  our  campaigns,  comes  from  an  acknowledged  authority.  It  was  General  Dufonl 
who  successfully  arrayed  the  Federal  Army  of  Switzerland  againet  secession,  and  'subdued' 
the  rebellious  Cantons/'— Boston  Journal. 


Military  Books.  5 

ARMY  OFFICERS'  POCKET  COMPANION.  Principally  de- 
signed for  Staff  Officers  in  the  Field.  Partly  translated  from  the 
French  of  M.  DE  ROUVRE,  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the  French  Staff 
Corps,  with  Additions  from  standard  American,  French,  and  English 
authorities.  By  WM.  P.  CRAIGHILL,  First-Lieutenant  U.  S.  Corps 
of  Engineers,  Assistant  Professor  of  Engineering  at  the  U.  S.  Mili- 
tary Academy,  West  Point.  I  vol.,  i8mo,  full  roan.  $2. 

•  I  have  carefully  examined  Captain  Craighill's  Pocket  Companion.  I  find  it  one  of  the  very 
best  works  of  the  kind  I  have  ever  seen.  Any  army  or  volunteer  officer  who  will  make  himself 
acquainted  with  the  contents  of  this  little  hook  will  seldom  he  ignorant  of  his  duties  in  camp  or 
Held.  "  H.  W.  HALLECK,  Major-General  U.  S.  A." 

"  I  have  carefully  examined  the  '  Manual  for  Staff  Officers  in  the  Field.'  It  is  a  most  invalua- 
ble work,  admirable  in  arrangement,  perspicuously  written,  abounding  in  most  useful  matters, 
and  such  a  book  as  should  be  the  constant  pocket-companion  of  every  army  officer,  Regular  and 
Volunteer.  "G.  W.  CTJLLUM,  Brigadier-General  U.  S.  A., 

"Chief  of  General  Halleck's  Staff,  Chief  Engineer  Department  Mississippi." 


M 


AXIMS  AND  INSTRUCTIONS  ON  THE  ART  OF  WAR. 
A  Practical  Military  Guide  for  the  use  of  Soldiers  of  all  Arms 
and  of  all  Countries.  Translated  from  the  French  by  Captain  LENDY, 
Director  of  the  Practical  Military  College,  late  of  the  French  Staff, 
etc.,  etc.  i  vol.,  i8mo,  cloth.  75  cents. 


H 


ISTORY  OF  WEST  POINT,  and  its  Military  Importance  during 
the  American  Revolution  ;  and  the  Origin  and  Progress  of  the 
United  States  Military  Academy.  By  Captain  EDWARD  C.  BOYNTON, 
A.  M.,  Adjutant  of  the  Military  Academy.  With  numerous  Maps 
and  Engravings,  i  vol.,  octavo.  Blue  cloth,  $6.00;  half  mor., 
$7.50;  full  mor.,  $10. 

**  Aside  from  its  value  as  an  historical  record,  the  volume  under  notice  is  an  entertaining 
guide-book  to  the  Military  Academy  and  its  surroundings.  We  have  full  details  of  Cadet  life 
from  the  day  of  entrance  to  that  of  graduation,  together  with  descriptions  of  the  buildings, 
grounds,  and  monuments.  To  the  multitude  of  those  who  have  enjoyed  at  West  Point  the  com- 
bined attractions,  this  book  will  give,  in  its  descriptive  and  illustrated  portion,  especial  pleas- 
ure."—New  York  Evening  Post. 

"  The  second  part  of  the  book  gives  the  history  of  the  Military  Academy  from  its  foundation 
in  1802,  a  description  of  the  academic  buildings,  and  the  appearance  to-day  of  this  always  beau- 
tiful spot,  with  the  manner  of  appointment  of  the  cadets,  course  of  study,  pay,  time  of  service, 
tnd.  much  other  information  yearly  becoming  of  greater  value,  for  West  Point  has  not  yet 
reached  its  palmiest  days."— Daily  Advertiser. 


WEST  POINT  LIFE.     A  poem  read  before  the  Dialectic  Society 
of   the    United    States   Military    Academy.        Illustrated    with 
twenty-two  full-page  Pen  and  Ink  Sketches.       By  a  CADET.     To 
which  is  added,  the  song,  "Benny  Havens,  Oh  1"      Oblong  8vo., 
cloth,  bevelled  boards,  $2.50. 

GUIDE  TO  WEST  POINT  AND  THE  U.  S.  MILITARY  ACAI> 
EMY.     With  Maps  and  Engravings.      i8mo.,  cloth,  $i. 


$  D.  Van  Nostrand's  Publications. 

BENTON'S  ORDNANCE  AND  GUNNERY.  A  Course  of  In- 
struction  in  Ordnance  and  Gunnery ;  compiled  for  the  use  of 
the  Cadets  of  the  United  States  Military  Academy,  by  Col.  J.  G. 
BENTON,  Major  Ordnance  Department,  late  Instructor  of  Ordnance 
and  Gunnery,  Military  Academy,  West  Point.  Third  Edition,  re- 
vised and  enlarged,  i  vol.,  8vo,  cloth,  cuts,  $5. 

**  A  GREAT  MILITARY  WORK.— We  have  before  us  a  bound  volume  of  nearly  six  hundred 
pages,  which  is  a  compete  and  exhaustive  *  Course  of  Instruction  in  Ordnance  and  Gunnery,' 
*s  its  title  states,  and  goes  into  every  department  of  the  science,  including  gunpowder,  pro- 
jectiles, cannon,  carriages,  machines,  and  implements,  small-arms,  pyrotechny,  science  of  gun- 
nery,  loading,  pointing,  and  discharging  firearms,  different  kinds  of  fires,  effects  of  projectiles 
and  employment  of  artillery.  These  severally  form  chapter  heads,  and  give  thorough  informa- 
tion on  the  subjects  on  which  they  treat.  The  most  valuable  and  interesting  information 
on  all  the  above  topics,  including  the  history,  manufacture,  and  use  of  small-arms,  is  here  con- 
centrated in  compact  and  convenient  form,  making  a  work  of  rare  merit  and  standard  excel* 
lence.  The  work  is  abundantly  and  clearly  illustrated."— Boston  Traveller. 

ELECTRO-BALLISTIC  MACHINES,  AND  THE  SCHULTZ  CHRONO- 
SCOPE.     By  Lt.-Col.  S.  V.  BENET.     i  vol.,  4to,  illustrated,  cloth, 
$3- 

A  TREATISE  ON  ORDNANCE  AND  ARMOR.  Embracing  De- 
scriptions, Discussions,  and  Professional  Opinions  concerning  the 
Material,  Fabrication,  Requirements,  Capabilities,  and  Endurance 
of  European  and  American  Guns  for  Naval,  Sea-Coast,  and  Iron- 
Clad  Warfare,  and  their  Rifling,  Projectiles,  and  Breech-Loading ; 
also,  Results  of  Experiments  against  Armor,  from  Official  Records. 
With  an  Appendix,  referring  to  Gun-Cotton,  Hooped  Guns,  etc., 
etc.  By  ALEXANDER  L.  HOLLEY,  B.  P.  With  493  Illustrations, 
i  vol.  8vo,  948  pages.  Half  roan,  $10.  Half  Russia,  $12. 

"  The  special  feature  of  this  comprehensive  volume  is  its  ample  record  of  facts  relating  to  the 
subjects  of  which  it  treats,  that  have  not  before  been  distinctly  presented  to  the  attention  of  the 
public.  It  contains  a  more  complete  account  than,  as  far  as  we  are  aware,  can  be  found  else- 
where, of  the  construction  and  effects  of  modern  standard  ordnance,  including  the  improve- 
ments of  Armstrong,  Whitworth,  Blakeley,  Parrott,  Brooks,  Rodman,  and  Dahlgren;  the  wrought- 
iron  and  steel  guns ;  and  the  latest  system  of  rifling  projectiles  and  breech-loading. 

HPHE    ARTILLERIST'S     MANUAL.       Compiled     from     various 
J-      Sources,  and  adapted  to  the  Service  of  the  United  States.     Pro- 
fusely illustrated  with  woodcuts  and  engravings  on  stone.     Second 
edition,  revised  and  corrected,   with  valuable  additions.     By  Gen. 
JOHN  GIBBON,  U.  S.  Army,      i  vol.,  8vo,  half  roan,  $6. 

This  book  is  now  considered  the  standard  authority  for  that  particular  branch 
of  tlie  Service  in  the  United  States  Army.  The  War  Department,  at  Wash- 
ington, has  exhibited  its  thorough  appreciation  of  the  merits  c  f  this  volume,  the 
want  of  which  has  been  hitherto  much  felt  in  the  service,  by  subscribing  for 
700  copies. 

"It  is  with  great  pleasure  that  we  welcome  the  appearance  of  a  new  work  on  this  subject, 
entitled  '  The  Artillerist's  Manual,'  by  Capt.  J»hn  Gibbon,  a  highly  scientific  and  meritorious 
officer  of  artillery  in  our  regular  service.  The  work,  an  octavo  volume  of  500  pages,  in  large, 
clear  type,  appears  to  be  well  adapted  to  supply  just  what  has  been  heretofore  needed  to  fill  the 
gap  between  the  simple  manual  and  the  more  abstruse  demonstrations  of  the  science  of  gunnery. 
The  whole  work  is  profusely  illustrated  with  woodcuts  and  engravings  on  stone,  tending  to  give 
a  more  complete  and  exact  idea  of  the  various  matters  described  in  the  text.  The  book  may 
well  be  considered  as  a  valuable  and  important  addition  to  the  military  science  of  the  country."— 
New  York  Herald. 


Military  Books.  7 

rjAND-BOOK  OF  ARTILLERY.     For  the  Service  of  the  United 

*•  J-  States  Army  and  Militia.  Ninth  edition,  revised  and  greatly  en- 
larged. By  Col.  JOSEPH  ROBERTS,  U.  S.  A.  i  vol.,  i8mo,  cloth, 
$1.25. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  report  made  by  the  committee  appointed 
at  a  meeting  of  the  staff  of  the  Artillery  School  at  Fort  Monroe,  Va.,  to  whom 
the  commanding  officer  of  the  School  had  referred  this  work : 

*  *  *  "  In  the  opinion  of  your  Committee,  the  arrangement  of  the  subjects  and  the  selection 
of  the  several  questions  and  answers  have  been  judicious.  The  work  is  one  which  may  b« 
advantageously  used  for  reference  by  the  officers,  and  is  admirably  adapted  to  the  instruction 
of  non-commissioned  officers  and  privates  of  artillery. 

"  Your  Committee  do,  therefore,  recommend  that  it  be  substituted  as  a  text-book." 
(Signed,)          I.  VOGDES,  Ca.pt.  1st  Artillery. 
(Signed,)          E.  O.  C.  ORD,  Capt.  3d  Artillery. 
(Signed,)          J.  A.  HASKIN,  Bvt.  Maj.  and  Capt.  1st  Artillery. 


NSTRUCTIONS  FOR  FIELD  ARTILLERY.  Prepared  by  a 
Board  of  Artillery  Officers.  To  which  is  added  the  "Evolutions 
of  Batteries,"  translated  from  the  French,  by  Brig. -Gen.  R.  ANDER- 
SON, U.  S.  A.  i  vol.,  1 2 mo,  122  plates.  Cloth,  $3. 

"  WAR  DEPARTMENT.  » 

11  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  March  1, 1863.  f 

14  This  system  of  Instruction  f»r  Field  Artillery,  prepared  under  direction  of  the  War  Depart- 
ment,  having  been  approved  by  the  President,  is  adopted  for  the  instruction  of  troopa  when 
acting  as  field  artillery. 

44  Accordingly,  instruction  in  the  same  will  be  given  after  the  method  pointed  out  therein ; 
and  all  additions  to  or  departures  from  the  exercise  and  manoeuvres  laid  down  in  the  system,  are 
positively  forbidden. 

*4  EDWIN  M.  STANTON, 

44  Secretary  of  War." 

pATTEN'S  ARTILLERY  DRILL,     i  vol.,  I2mo,  paper,  50  cents. 

HEAVY  ARTILLERY  TACTICS.— 1863.     Instruction  for  Heavy 
Artillery  ;   prepared  by  a  Board  of  Officers,  for  the  use  of  the 
Army  of  the  United  States.     With  service  of  a  gun  mounted  on  an 
iron  carriage.     In  i  vol.,  I2mo,  with  numerous  illustrations.     Cloth, 

$2.50. 

44  WAR  DEPARTMENT,  J 

44  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  Oct.  20,  1862.    f 

44  This  system  of  Heavy  Artillery  Tactics,  prepared  under  direction  of  the  War  Department, 
having  been  approved  by  the  President,  is  adopted  for  the  instruction  of  troops  when  acting  ai 

heavy  artillery. 

44  EDWIN  M.  STANTON, 

44  Secretary  of  War.'* 

EVOLUTIONS  OF  FIELD  BATTERIES  OF  ARTILLERY. 
Translated  from  the  French,  and  arranged  for  the  Army  and  Mi- 
litia of  the  United  States.  By  Gen.  ROBERT  ANDERSON,  U.  S.  A. 
Published  by  order  of  the  War  Department,  i  vol.,  cloth,  32 
plates,  $i. 


D.  Van  Nostrand's  Publications. 


ILLMORE'S  FORT  SUMTER.  Official  Report  of  Operations 
against  the  Defences  of  Charleston  Harbor,  1863.  Comprising 
the  descent  upon  Morris  Island,  the  demolition  of  Fort  Sumter,  and 
the  siege  and  reduction  of  Forts  Wagner  and  Gregg.  By  Maj.-Gen. 
Q.  A.  GILLMORE,  U.  S.  Volunteers,  and  Major  U.  S.  Corps  of  Engi- 
neers. With  76  lithographic  plates,  views,  maps,  etc.  i  vol.,  8vo. 
Cloth,  $10  ;  Half-Russia,  $12. 

**  General  Gillniore  has  enjoyed  and  Improved  some  very  unusual  opportunities  for  adding  to 
Ike  literature  of  military  science,  and  for  making  a  permanent  record  of  his  own  professional 
achievements.  It  has  fallen  to  his  lot  to  conduct  some  of  the  moat  striking  operations  of  tha 
war,  and  to  make  trial  of  interesting  experiments  in  engineering  and  artillery  which  were  both 
calculated  to  throw  light  upon  some  of  the  great  points  of  current  discussion  in  military  art,  and 
also  to  fix  the  attention  of  spectators  in  no  ordinary  degree. 

"  His  report  of  the  siege  of  Port  Pnlaski  thus  almost  took  the  form  of  a  popular  scientific 
treatise  ;  and  we  now  have  his  report  of  his  operations  against  Forts  Wagner  and  Sumter,  given 
to  the  public  in  a  volume  which  promises  to  be  even  more  attractive  at  bottom,  both  to  tha 
scientific  and  the  general  reader,  than  its  predecessor. 

"  The  volume  is  illustrated  by  seventy-six  plates  and  views,  which  are  admirably  executed, 
and  by  a  few  excellent  maps;  and  indeed  the  whole  style  of  publication  is  such  as  to  reflect 
the  highest  credit  upon  the  publishers."  —  Boston  Daily  Advertiser. 


UPPLEMENTARY  REPORT  to  the  Engineer  and  Artillery  Opera* 
tions  against  the  Defences  of  Charleston  Harbor  in  1863.  By 
Major-General  Q.  A.  GILLMORE,  U.  S.  Volunteers,  and  Major  U.  S. 
Corps  of  Engineers.  With  Seven  Lithographed  Maps  and  Views, 
i  vol.,  8vo.  Cloth.  $5. 


SIEGE  AND   REDUCTION   OF   FORT  PULASKI,  GEORGIA. 
Papers  on  Practical  Engineering.     No.  8.     Official  Report  to  tha 
U.  S.  Engineer  Department  of  the  Siege  and  Reduction  of  Fort  Pu- 
laski,  Ga.,  February,   March,  and  April,    1862.     By  Brig. -Gen.   Q. 
.A.  GILLMORE,  U.  S.  A.     Illustrated   by   maps  and   views,     i  vol., 
8vo,  cloth.     $2.50. 


PRACTICAL  TREATISE  ON  LIMES,  HYDRAULIC  CE- 
MENTS, AND  MORTARS.  Papers  on  Practical  Engineering, 
U.  S.  Engineer  Department,  No.  9,  containing  Reports  of  numerous 
experiments  conducted  in  New  York  City,  during  the  years  1858  to 
1 86 1  inclusive.  By  Major-General  Q.  A.  GILLMORE,  U.  S.  Volun- 
teers, and  Major  U.  S.  Corps  of  Engineers.  With  numerous  illus- 
trations. One  volume,  octavo.  Cloth.  $4. 


YSTEMS  OF  MILITARY  BRIDGES,  in  Use  by  the  United  States 
Army ;  those  adopted  by  the  Great  European  Powers  ;  and  such 
as  are  employed  in  British  India.  With  Directions  for  the  Preserva- 
tion, Destruction,  and  Re-establishment  of  Bridges.  By  Maj.  -Gen. 
GEORGE  W.  CULLUM,  Lieut. -Col.  Corps  of  Engineers,  United  States 
Army,  i  vol.  octavo.  With  numerous  illustrations.  Cloth.  $3. 50, 


Military  Books.  9 

MILITARY  BRIDGES  :  For  the  Passage  of  Infantry,  Artillery, 
and  Baggage-Trains ;  with  suggestions  of  many  new  expedients 
and  constructions  for  crossing  streams  and  chasms ;  designed  to 
utilize  the  resources  ordinarily  at  command  and  reduce  the  amount 
and  cost  of  army  transportation.  Including  also  designs  for  Trestle 
and  Truss-Bridges  for  Military  Railroads,  adapted  especially  to  the 
wants  of  the  Service  of  the  United  States.  By  HERMAN  HAUPT, 
Brig. -Gen.  in  charge  of  the  construction  and  operation  of  the  U.  S. 
Military  Railways,  Author  of  "General  Theory  of  Bridge  Construc- 
tion, &c. "  Illustrated  by  sixty-nine  lithographic  engravings.  Oc- 
tavo, cloth.  $6.50. 

"  This  elaborate  and  careftdly  prepared,  though  thoroughly  practical  and  simple  work,  ia 
peculiarly  adapted  to  the  military  service  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Haupt  has  added  very  much 
to  the  ordinary  facilities  for  crossing  streams  and  chasms,  hy  the  instructions  afforded  in  this 
work."— Boston  Courier. 


BENfiTS  MILITARY  LAW.  A  Treatise  on  Military  Law  and  the 
Practice  of  Courts-Martial.  By  Col.  S.  V.  BENET,  Ordnance  De- 
partment, U.  S.  A.,  late  Assistant  Professor  of  Ethics,  Law,  &c., 
Military  Academy,  West  Point,  i  vol.,  8vo,  sixth  edition,  revised 
and  enlarged.  Law  sheep.  $4. 50. 

"  Captain  Benet  presents  the  army  with  a  complete  compilation  of  the  precedents  and  decisions 
of  rare  value  which  have  accumulated  since  the  creation  of  the  office  of  Judge-Advocate, 
thoroughly  digested  and  judiciously  arranged,  with  an  index  of  the  most  minute  accuracy. 
Military  Law  and  Courts-Martial  are  treated  from  the  composition  of  the  latter  to  the  Finding 
and  Sentence,  with  the  Revision  and  Execution  of  the  same,  all  set  forth  in  a  clear,  exhaustive 
style  that  is  a  cardinal  excellence  in  every  work  of  legal  reference.  That  portion  of  the  work 
devoted  to  Evidence  is  especially  good.  In  fact,  the  whole  performance  entitles  the  author  to 
the  thanks  of  the  entire  army,  not  a  leading  officer  of  which  should  fail  to  supply  himself  at  once 
with  so  serviceable  a  guide  to  the  intricacies  of  legal  military  government." — N.  Y.  Times. 

JUDGE- ADVOCATE  GENERAL'S  OFFICE,  I 
October  13,  1862.  ) 

*  *  *  So  far  as  I  have  been  enabled  to  examine  this  volume,  it  seems  to  me  carefully  and 
accurately  prepared,  and  I  am  satisfied  that  you  have  rendered  an  acceptable  service  to  the  army 
and  the  country  by  its  publication  at  this  moment.  In  consequence  of  the  gigantic  proportions 
so  suddenly  assumed  by  the  military  operations  of  the  Government,  there  have  been  necessarily 
called  into  the  field,  from  civil  life,  a  vast  number  of  officers,  unacquainted,  from  their  previous 
studies  and  pursuits,  both  with  the  principles  of  military  law  and  with  the  course  of  judicial 
proceedings  under  it.  To  all  such,  this  treatise  will  prove  an  easily  accessible  storehouse  of 
knowledge,  which  it  is  equally  the  duty  of  the  soldier  in  command  to  acquire,  as  it,  is  to  draw 
his  sword  against  the  common  enemy.  The  military  spirit  of  our  people  now  being  fhoro'j?:hly 
aroused,  added  to  a  growing  conviction  that  in  future  we  may  have  to  depend  quite  a3  much  upon 
the  bayonet  as  upon  the  ballot-box  for  the  preservation  of  our  institutions,  cannot  fail  to  secure 
to  this  work  an  extended  and  earnest  appreciation.  In  bringing  the  results  of  iectfslation  and 
of  decisions  upon  the  questions  down  to  so  recent  a  period,  the  author  has  added  greatly  to  the 
interest  and  usefulness  of  the  volume.  Very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant,  J.  HOLT. 


H 


ALLECK'S  INTERNATIONAL  LAW ;  or,  Rules  Regulating  the 
Intercourse  of  States  in  Peace  and  War.  By  Maj.-Gen.  H.  W. 
HALLKCK,  Commanding  the  Army.  I  vol.,  8vo.  Law  sheep 
$6. 


10  I).  Van  No  strand's  Publications. 

REPORT  OF  THE  ENGINEER  AND  ARTILLERY  OPERA- 
TIONS OF  THE  ARMY  OF  THE  POTOMAC,  from  its  Or« 
ganization  to  the  Close  of  the  Peninsular  Campaign.  By  Maj.  -Gen. 
J.  G.  BARNARD,  and  other  Engineer  Officers,  and  Maj. -Gen.  W.  F. 
BARRY,  Chief  of  Artillery.  Illustrated  by  numerous  Maps,  Plans, 
&c.  Octavo.  Cloth.  $4. 

"The  title  of  this  work  sufficiently  indicates  its  importance  and  value  as  a  contribution  to  th« 
history  of  the  great  rebellion.  Gen.  Barnard's  report  is  a  narrative  of  the  engineer  operations 
of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  from  the  time  of  its  organization  to  the  date  it  was  withdraw* 
from  the  James  River.  Thus  a  record  is  given  of  an  important  part  in  the  great  work  which 
the  nation  found  before  it  when  it  was  first  confronted  with  the  necessity  of  war,  and  perhapg 
on  no  other  point  in  the  annals  of  the  rebellion  will  future  generations  look  with  a  deeper  or 
more  admiring  interest." — Buffalo  Courier. 

THE  "C.  S.  A.,"  AND  THE  BATTLE   OF   BULL   RUN.     (A 
Letter  to  an  English  friend),  by  Major  J.  G.  BARNARD,   Colonel 
of  Engineers,  U.  S.  A.,   Major-General  and  Chief  Engineer,  Army 
of  the  Potomac.     With  five  maps.     I  vol.,  8vo.     Cloth.     $2. 


T 


HE  PENINSULAR  CAMPAIGN  AND  ITS  ANTECEDENTS, 
as  developed  by  the  Report  of  Major-General  GEO.  B.  MCCLELLAN, 
and  other  published  Documents.  By  J.  G.  BARNARD,  Colonel  of 
Engineers  and  Brevet  Major-General  Volunteers,  and  Chief  En- 
gineer in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  from  its  organization  to  the  close 
of  the  Peninsular  Campaign,  i  vol.,  I2mo.  Paper.  30  cents. 

NOTES   ON   SEA-COAST   DEFENCE:   Consisting  of  Sea-Coast 
Fortification  ;  the  Fifteen-Inch  Gun  ;  and  Casemate  Embrasure. 
By   Major-General   J.    G.    BARNARD,   Col.    of  Corps  of  Engineers, 
U.  S.  A.     i  vol.,  8vo.     Cloth.     Plates.     $2. 


M 


ANUAL  FOR  ENGINEER  TROOPS:  Consisting  of— Part  I. 
Ponton  Drill ;  II.  Practical  Operations  of  a  Siege ;  III.  School 
of  the  Sap ;  IV.  Military  Mining ;  V.  Construction  of  Batteries. 
By  General  J.  C.  DUANE,  Corps  of  Engineers,  U.  S.  Army,  i  vol., 
izmo.  Half  morocco.  With  plates.  $2.50. 

"  I  have  carefully  examined  Capt.  J.  C.  Duane's  '  Manual  for  Engineer  Troops,'  and  do  not 
Hesitate  to  pronounce  it  the  very  best  work  on  the  subject  of  which  it  treats. 

"H.  W.  HALLECK,  Major-General  U.  S.  A." 

"A  work  of  this  kind  has  been  much  needed  in  our  military  literature.     For  the  Army's 
eake,  I  hope  the  book  will  have  a  wide  circulation  among  its  officers. 

"  G.  B.  McCLELLAN,  Major-General  U.  S.  A." 


A 


TREATISE  ON  MILITARY  SURVEYING.  Theoretical  and 
Practical,  including  a  description  of  Surveying  Instruments.  By 
G.  H.  MENDELL,  Major  of  Engineers,  i  vol.,  I2mo.  With  nu- 
merous illustrations.  Cloth.  $2. 

"The  author  is  a  Captain  of  Engineers,  and  has  for  his  chief  authorities  Salneuve,  Lalobre, 
and  Simms.  He  has  presented  the  subject  in  a  simple  form,  and  has  liberally  illustrated  it  with 
diagrams,  that  it  may  be  readily  comprehended  by  every  one  who  is  liable  to  be  called  irson  to 
furnish  a  military  sketch  of  a  portion  of  country."—^'.  Y.  Evening  Post. 


Military  Bootes  11 

ABBOT  (H.  L.)  Siege  Artillery  in  the  Campaign  against  Richmond, 
with  Notes  on  the  1 5-inch  Gun,  including  an  Algebraic  Analysis 
of  the  Trajectory  of  a  Shot  in  its  ricochet  upon  smooth  Water.  Il- 
lustrated with  detailed  drawings  of  the  U.  S.  and  Confederate  rifled 
projectiles.  By  HENRY  L.  ABBOT,  Major  of  Engineers,  and  Brevet 
Major-General  U.  S.  Volunteers,  commanding  Siege  Artillery,  Armies 
before  Richmond.  Paper  No.  14,  Professional  Papers,  Corps  of 
Engineers.  I  vol.,  8vo.  Cloth.  $3.50. 

A  UTHORIZED  U.  S.  INFANTRY  TACTICS.  For  the  Instruc- 
**•  tion,  Exercise,  and  Manosuvres  of  the  Soldier,  a  Company,  Line 
of  Skirmishers,  Battalion,  Brigade,  or  Corps  d'Armee.  By  Brig.- 
Gen.  SILAS  CASEY,  U.  S.  A.  3  vols.,  241110.  Vol.  I. — School  of 
the  Soldier ;  School  of  the  Company ;  Instruction  for  Skirmishers. 
Vol.  II. — School  of  the  Battalion.  Vol.  III.  Evolutions  of  a  Bri- 
gade ;  Evolutions  of  a  Corps  d'Armee.  Cloth,  lithographed  plates. 
$2.50. 

MORRIS'S  INFANTRY  TACTICS.  Comprising  the  School  of 
the  Soldier,  School  of  the  Company,  Instruction  for  Skirmishers, 
School  of  the  Battalion,  Evolutions  of  the  Brigade,  and  Directions 
for  Manoeuvring  the  Division  and  the  Corps  d'Armee.  By  Brig.- 
Gen.  WILLIAM  H.  MORRIS,  U.  S.  Vols.,  and  late  U.  S.  Second  In- 
fantry. 2  vols.,  24mo.  Cloth.  $2. 

US.  TACTICS  FOR  COLORED  TROOPS.  U.  S.  Infantry  Tac- 
•  tics,  for  the  Instruction,  Exercise,  and  Manoeuvres  of  the  Soldier, 
a  Company,  Line  of  Skirmishers,  and  Battalion,  for  the  use  of  the 
COLORED  TROOPS  of  the  United  States  Infantry.  Prepared  under  the 
direction  of  the  War  Department,  i  vol.,  24mo.  Plates.  Cloth. 
$1.50. 

"  WAR  DEPARTMENT,  WASHINGTON,  March  9, 1868. 

"  This  system  of  United  States  Infantry  Tactics,  prepared  under  the  direction  of  the  War 
Department,  for  the  use  of  the  colored  troops  of  the  United  States  Infantry,  having  been 
approved  by  the  President,  is  adopted  for  the  instruction  of  such  troops. 

"EDWIN  M.  STAJSTTON,  Secretary  of  War." 

FIELD  TACTICS  FOR  INFANTRY.  Comprising  the  Battalion 
movements,  and  Brigade  evolutions,  useful  in  the  Field,  on  the 
March,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  Enemy.  The  tabular  form  is 
used  to  distinguish  the  commands  of  the  General,  and  the  com- 
mands of  the  Colonel.  By  Brig. -Gen.  WM.  H.  MORRIS,  U.  S.  Vols., 
late  Second  U.  S.  Infantry.  i8mo.  Illustrated.  75  cents. 

LIGHT  INFANTRY  COMPANY  AND  SKIRMISH  DRILL. 
The  Company  Drill  of  the  Infantry  of  the  Line,  together  with  the 
Skirmish  Drill  of  the  Company  and  Battalion,  after  the  method  of 
General  LE  LOUTEREL.  Bayonet  Fencing ;  with  a  Supplement  on 
the  Handling  and  Service  of  Light  Infantry.  By  J.  MONROE,  Col. 
22d  Regiment,  N.  G.,  N.  Y.  S.  M.,  formerly  Captain  U.  S.  Infantry. 
i  vol.,  3 2 mo.  75  cents. 

SCHOOL  OF  THE  GUIDES.     Designed  for  the  use  of  the  Militia 
of  the  United  States.     Flexible  cloth.     60  cents. 


14  D.  Van  Nbstrand's  Publications. 

HTHREE  YEARS  IN  THE  SIXTH  CORPS.     A  concise  narrative 

•1-      of  events  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  from  1861  to  the  Close  of 

the  Rebellion,  April,  1865.     By  GEO.   T.   STEVENS,   Surgeon  of  the 

77th  Regt.  New  York  Volunteers.     Illustrated  with  17  engravings 

and  6  steel  portraits.    New  and  revised  edition.     8vo.     Cloth.     $3. 

"This  story  of  'Three  Years  in  the  Sixth  Corps'  is  a  valuable  contribution  to  the  history  of  the  great 
struggle,  and  we  are  glad  to  see  that  its  success  necessitates  this  second  edition.  The  work  is  graphically 
written,  and  brings  vividly  before  the  mind  of  the  reader  the  varied  scenes  which  came  before  the 
writer's  eye.  Not  only  wiU  it  be  found  interesting  to  the  members  of  the  old  Sixth,  but  to  every  Ameri- 
can reader.  Fine  portraits  on  steel  of  six  of  the  leading  Generals  connected  with  the  corps,  and  a 
number  of  wood-cuts,  accompany  this  edition." — Mail. 

THE  VOLUNTEER  QUARTERMASTER.  Containing  a  Collec- 
tion and  Codification  of  the  Laws,  Regulations,  Rules,  and  Prac- 
tices governing  the  Quartermaster's  Department  of  the  United  States 
Army,  and  in  force  March  4,  1865.  By  Captain  ROELIFF  BRINKER- 
HOFF,  Assistant  Quartermaster  U.  S.  Volunteers,  and  Post  Quarter- 
master at  Washington,  i  vol.,  I2mo.  Cloth.  $2.50. 


M 


ANUAL  FOR  QUARTERMASTERS  AND  COMMISSARIES. 
Containing  Instructions  in  the  Preparation  of  Vouchers,  Ab- 
stracts, Returns,  &c.,  embracing  all  the  recent  changes  in  the  Army 
Regulations,  together  with  instructions  respecting  Taxation  of  Sal- 
aries, &c.  By  Captain  R.  F.  HUNTER,  late  of  the  U.  S.  Army. 
I2mo.  Cloth.  $1.25.  Flexible  morocco.  $1.50. 

THE  WAR  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  A  Report  to  the  Swiss 
Military  Department.  Preceded  by  a  Discourse  to  the  Federal 
Military  Society  assembled  at  Berne,  Aug.  18,  1862.  By  FERDINAND 
LECOMTE,  Lieut. -Col.  Swiss  Confederation.  Author  of  "Relation 
Historique  et  Critique  de  la  Campagne  d'ltalie  en  1859,"  "  L'ltalie 
en  1860,"  and  "Le  General  Jomini,  sa  Vie,  et  ses  Ecrits,"  &c.,  &c. 
Translated  from  the  French  by  a  Staff  Officer.  i  vol.,  12 mo. 
Cloth.  $i. 

HTODLEBEN'S    (GENERAL)    HISTORY   OF   THE   DEFENCE 
-L      OF  SEBASTOPOL.     By  WILLIAM  HOWARD  RUSSELL,  LL.D.,  of 
the  London  Times,     i  vol.,  12 mo.     Cloth.     $2. 

GUNNERY  IN  1858.     A  Treatise  on  Rifles,  Cannon,  and  Sporting 
Arms.     By  WM.  GREENER,  R.  C.  E.    i  vol.,  8 vo.  Cloth.  $4.     Full 
calf.     $6.00. 

MANUAL  OF  SIGNALS,  for  the  use  of  Signal  Officers  in  the 
Field,  and  for  Military  and  Naval  Students,  Military  Schools, 
&c.  A  new  edition,  enlarged  and  illustrated.  By  Brig. -Gen.  ALBERT 
Y.  MYER,  Chief  Signal  Officer  of  the  Army,  Colonel  of  the  Signal 
Corps  during  the  War  of  the  Rebellion.  A  new  edition,  enlarged, 
and  illustrated  with  42  Plates.  i2mo.  Roan.  $5. 


18  D.  Van  Nostrand's  Publications. 

REBELLION  RECORD.  A  Diary  of  American  Events.  1860- 
1864.  Edited  by  FRANK  MOORE.  Complete  in  12  Volumes. 
Illustrated  with  158  finely  engraved  steel  portraits  of  distinguished 
Generals  and  Prominent  Men,  together  with  numerous  Maps  and 
Plans.  The  work  can  now  be  supplied  complete  in  12  volumes  al 
the  following  prices,  viz.  :  Green  cloth,  $60.00  ;  library  sheep, 
$72.00;  half  calf,  antique,  $78.00;  half  morocco,  $78.00;  half 
Russia,  $84.00. 

This  work  is  a  compendium  of  information,  made  up  of  special  correspondence,  official  re- 
ports, and  gleanings  from  the  newspapers  of  both  sections  of  the  United  States  and  of  Europe 
Of  these  latter,  over  five  hundred  are  used  in  its  preparation. 

The  REBELLION  RECORD  has  now  become  so  firmly  established  as  the  standard  authority  oi 
the  war  that  individuals  in  all  departments  of  the  Army,  Navy,  and  Government  are  constantly 
referring  to  it,  for  narratives  of  important  events,  and  official  reports  unpublished  elsewhere. 

In  addition  to  this,  most  of  the  speeches,  narratives,  &c.,  elsewhere  published,  have  been  re- 
vised by  their  authors,  specially  for  the  RECORD. 

The  editor  has  aimed  at  completeness,  accuracy,  and  impartiality.  Completeness  has  been 
secured  by  the  fullest  possible  sources  of  information.  Accuracy  has  been  attained  by  deferring 
publication  of  all  matter  long  enough  after  events  for  the  accounts  of  them  to  be  sifted.  Im- 
partiality has  been  a  special  object.  Every  authority  from  the  Southern  side  has  been  sough! 
for  without  regard  to  labor  or  expense,  and  all  statements  and  documents  have  been  inserted  aa 
originally  found,  without  editorial  comment  of  any  kind. 

The  REBELLION  RECORD  is  already  the  main  source  of  history  of  the  war.  Most  of  the  histo- 
ries of  the  war  yet  published  have  been,  in  a  great  measure,  compiled  from  the  REBELLIOU 
RECORD.  This  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  documents  cited  in  those  works  are  quoted  in  thephro* 
geology  of  the  copies  revised  by  their  authors  specially  for  the  Record,  and  published  nowhere-  else 

This  work  is  of  special  value  to  statesmen,  inasmuch  as  the  course  and  policy  of  all  prominent 
men  are  fully  traced  in  it. 

It  is  indispensable  to  lawyers.  A  large  and  increasing  amount  of  litigation  is  arising  on  sub- 
jects connected  with  the  war,  and  the  REBELLION  RECORD  is  the  only  complete  repository  of 
evidence  and  authority.  All  important  Laws  and  leading  Decisions  arising  out  of  the  war  are 
reported  in  it ;  and  it  has  already  been  received  as  authentic  evidence  in  trial  for  Piracy  and 
Treason  in  the  United  States  Courts  of  Philadelphia,  New  York,  Boston,  and  San  Francisco. 

The  Philadelphia  Press,  of  October  26, 1861,  thus  speaks  of  it : 

"  During  the  trial,  which  terminated  yesterday,  for  piracy,  of  one  of  the  crew  of  the  Jeff 
Davis,  a  great  deal  of  evidence  was  offered  by  the  counsel  for  defence  taken  from  FRANK 
MOORE'S  REBELLION  RECORD,  and  received  by  Judges  Grier  and  Cadwallader,  who  presided. 
This  is  a  remarkable  compliment  to  the  work  in  question  ;  but  not  higher  than  it  merits,  from 
the  fulness  and  fairness  of  its  various  information  respecting  the  rebellion.  It  is  the  first  time 
in  legal  and  literary  history  that  a  book  not  yet  completed  has  been  so  stamped  with  authen- 
ticity as  to  be  admitted  ae  evidence  in  a  court  of  law,  and  on  a  trial  for  a  capital  offence." 

"  We  presume  that  there  can  be  no  question  that  there  never  was  so  complete  a  body  of  me- 
moires  pour  servir  published  as  this,  and  at  least  that  it  is  destined  to  be  the  resort  of  all  those 
who  wish  to  study,  from  a  political,  social,  or  military  point  of  view,  the  events  of  the  yeara 
1860-65.  That  no  libraries  fit  to  be  called  such,  whether  public  or  private,  can  dispense  with  it 
Is  certain.  The  portraits  of  prominent  officers  and  politicians  which  have  generally  accompa- 
nied each  monthly  part,  have  been  of  a  high  order  of  excellence,  and  add  materially  to  the  valu« 
»nd  attractiveness  of  the  HECOBD."— The  Nation. 


SCIENTIFIC   BOOKS. 


FRANCIS'  (J.  B.)  Hydraulic  Experiments.  Lowell  Hydraulic  Ex- 
periments — being  a  Selection  from  Experiments  on  Hydraulic 
Motors,  on  the  Flow  of  Water  over  Weirs,  and  in  Open  Canals  of 
Uniform  Rectangular  Section,  made  at  Lowell,  Mass.  By  J.  B. 
FRANCIS,  Civil  Engineer.  Second  edition,  revised  and  enlarged,  in- 
cluding many  New  Experiments  on  Gauging  Water  in  Open  Canals, 
and  on  the  Flow  through  Submerged  Orifices  and  Diverging  Tubes. 
With  23  copperplates,  beautifully  engraved,  and  about  100  new 
pages  of  text,  i  vol.,  4to.  Cloth.  $15. 

Most  of  the  practical  rales  given  in  the  books  on  hydraulics  have  been  determined  from  ex 
periments  made  in  other  countries,  with  insufficient  apparatus,  and  on  such  a  minute  scale,  that 
In  applying  them  to  the  large  operations  arising  in  practice  in  this  country,  the  engineer  cannot 
but  doubt  their  reliable  applicability.  The  parties  controlling  the  great  water-power  furnished 
by  the  Merrimack  River  at  Lowell,  Massachusetts,  felt  this  so  keenly,  that  they  have  deemed  it 
necessary,  at  great  expense,  to  determine  anew  some  of  the  most  important  rules  for  gauging 
the  flow  of  large  streams  of  water,  and  for  this  purpose  have  caused  to  be  made,  with  great  care, 
several  series  of  experiments  on  a  large  scale,  a  selection  from  which  are  minutely  detailed  in 
this  volume. 

The  work  is  divided  into  two  parts— PART  I.,  on  hydraulic  motors,  includes  ninety-two  exper. 
ments  on  an  improved  Fourneyron  Turbine  Water- Wheel,  of  about  two  hundred  horse-power, 
with  rules  and  tables  for  the  construction  of  similar  motors :— Thirteen  experiments  on  a  model 
of  a  centre-vent  water-wheel  of  the  most  simple  design,  and  thirty-nine  experiments  on  a  centre 
vent  water-wheel  of  about  two  hundred  and  thirty  horse-power. 

PART  II.  includes  seventy-four  experiments  made  for  the  purpose  of  determining  the  form  ot 
the  formula  for  computing  the  flow  of  water  over  weirs ;  nine  experiments  on  the  effect  of  back- 
water on  the  flow  over  weirs ;  eighty-eight  experiments  made  for  the  purpose  of  determining 
the  formula  for  computing  the  flow  over  weirs  of  regular  or  standard  forms,  with  several  tables 
of  comparisons  of  the  new  formula  with  the  results  obtained  by  tormer  experimenters ;  five  ex- 
periments on  the  flow  over  a  dam  in  which  the  crest  was  of  the  same  form  as  that  built  by  the 
Essex  Company  across  the  Merrimack  River  at  Lawrence,  Massachusetts ;  twenty-one  experi- 
ments on  the  effect  of  observing  the  depths  of  water  on  a  weir  at  different  distances  from  the 
weir ;  an  extensive  series  of  experiments  made  for  the  purpose  of  determining  rules  for  gaug- 
ing streams  of  water  in  open  canals,  with  tr^les  for  facilitating  the  same ;  and  one  hundred  and 
one  experiments  on  the  discharge  of  water  V^rough  submerged  orifices  and  diverging  tubes,  the 
whole  being  fully  illustrated  by  twenty-three  double  plates  engraved  on  copper. 

In  1855  the  proprietors  of  the  Locks  and  Canals  on  Merrimack  River,  at  whose  expense  most 
of  the  experiments  were  made,  being  willing  that  the  public  should  share  the  benefits  of  the 
scientific  operations  promoted  by  them,  consented  to  the  publication  of  the  first  edition  of  this 
work,  which  contained  a  selection  of  the  most  important  hydraulic  experiments  made  at  Lowell 
up  to  that  time.  In  this  second  edition  the  principal  hydraulic  experiments  made  there,  subse- 
quent to  1855,  have  been  added,  including  the  important  series  above  mentioned,  for  determin- 
ing rules  for  the  gauging  the  flow  of  water  in  open  canals,  and  the  interesting  series  on  the  flow 
through  a  submerged  Venturi's  tube,  in  which  a  larger  flow  was  obtained  than  any  we  find  re- 
corded. 

FRANCIS  (J.   B.)  On  the  Strength  of  Cast-iron  Pillars,  with  Tables 
for  the  use  of  Engineers,  Architects,  and  Builders.    By  JAMES  B. 
FRANCIS,  Civil  Engineer,     i  vol.,  8vo.    Cloth.     $2. 


24  D.  Van  Nostrand's  Publications. 

HOLLEY'S  RAILWAY  PRACTICE.  American  and  Earopean 
Railway  Practice,  in  the  Economical  Generation  of  Steam,  in- 
cluding the  materials  and  construction  of  Coal-burning  Boilers, 
Combustion,  the  Variable  Blast,  Vaporization,  Circulation,  Super- 
heating, Supplying  and  Heating  Feed-water,  &c.,  and  the  adaptation 
of  Wood  and  Coke-burning  Engines  to  Coal-burning ;  and  in  Per- 
manent Way,  including  Road-bed,  Sleepers,  Rails,  Joint  Fastenings, 
Street  Railways,  &c. ,  &c.  By  ALEXANDER  L.  HOLLEY,  B.  P.  With 
77  lithographed  plates.  I  vol.,  folio.  Cloth.  $12. 

**  This  is  an  elaborate  treatise  by  one  of  our  ablest  civil  engineers,  on  the  construction  and  use 
of  locomotives,  with  a  few  chapters  on  the  building  of  Railroads.  *  *  *  All  these  subject* 
are  treated  by  the  author,  who  is  a  first-class  railroad  engineer,  in  both  an  intelligent  and  intelli- 
gible manner.  The  facts  and  ideas  are  well  arranged,  and  presented  in  a  clear  and  simple  style, 
accompanied  by  beautiful  engravings,  and  we  presume  the  work  will  be  regarded  as  indispens- 
able by  all  who  are  interested  in  a  knowledge  of  the  construction  of  railroads  and  rolling  stock, 
or  the  working  of  locomotives."— Scientific  American. 

HENRICI  (OLAUS).     Skeleton  Structures,  especially  in  their  Appli- 
cation to  the   Building  of  Steel  and   Iron  Bridges.     By  OLAUS 
HENRICI.     With  folding  plates  and  diagrams,     i  vol.,  8vo.     Cloth. 

$3- 

WHILDEN  (J.   K.)    On  the  Strength  of  Materials  used   in   Err 
gineering  Construction.     By  J.   K.   WHILDEN.      I  vol.,    12 mo. 

Cloth.    $2. 

"  We  find  in  this  work  tables  of  the  tensile  strength  of  timber,  metals,  stones,  wire,  rope, 
hempen  cable,  strength  of  thin  cylinders  of  cast-iron ;  modulus  of  elasticity,  strength  of  thick 
cylinders,  as  cannon,  &c.,  effects  of  reheating,  &c.,  resistance  of  timber,  metals,  and  stone  to 
crushing;  experiments  on  brick- work;  strength  of  pillars;  collapse  of  tube ;  experiments  on 
punching  and  shearing ;  the  transverse  strength  of  materials ;  beams  of  uniform  strength ;  table 
of  coefficients  of  timber,  stone,  and  iron ;  relative  strength  of  weight  ifi  cast-iron,  transverse 
strength  of  alloys ;  experiments  on  wrought  and  cast-iron  beams :  lattice  girders,  trussed  cast- 
iron  girders;  deflection  of  beams;  torsional  strength  and  torsional  elasticity." — American  Ar- 
tisan. 

CAM  PIN  (F.)  On  the  Construction  of  Iron  Roofs.     A  Theoretical 
and  Practical  Treatise.     By  FRANCIS  CAMPIN.    With  wood-cuts  and 
plates  of  Roofs  lately  executed.     Large  8vo.     Cloth.     $3. 

T3ROOKLYN  WATER-WORKS  AND  SEWERS.  Containing  a 
•D  Descriptive  Account  of  the  Construction  of  the  Works,  and  also 
Reports  on  the  Brooklyn,  Hartford,  Belleville,  and  Cambridge 
Pumping  Engines.  Prepared  and  printed  by  order  of  .re  Board  of 
Water  Commissioners.  With  illustrations.  i  vol.,  folio.  Cloth. 
$15- 

ROEBLING  (J.  A.)     Long  and  Short  Span  Railway  Bridges.     By 
JOHN  A.  ROEBLING,  C.  E.     Illustrated  with  large  copperplate  en- 
gravings of  plans  and  views.     Imperial  folio,  cloth.     $25. 

CLARKE  (T.   C.)     Description  of  the  Iron  Railway  Bridge  across 
>— '     the   Mississippi  River  at  Quincy,   Illinois.      By  THOMAS  CURTIS 

CLARKE,  Chief  Engineer.      Illustrated  with  numerous  lithographed 

plans,     i  vol.,  4to.     Cloth.     $7.50. 


Scientific  Books.  25 

WILLIAMSON  (R.  S.)  On  the  Use  of  the  Barometer  on  Surveys 
and  Reconnaissances.  Part  I.  Meteorology  in  its  Connection 
with  Hypsometry.  Part  II.  Barometric  Hypsometry.  By  R.  S. 
WILLIAMSON,  Bvt.  Lieut. -Col.  U.  S.  A.,  Major  Corps  of  Engineers. 
With  Illustrative  Tables  and  Engravings.  Paper  No.  15,  Professional 
Papers,  Corps  of  Engineers.  I  vol.,  4to.  Cloth.  $15. 

"  SAX  FRANCISCO,  CAL.,  Feb.  87, 1867. 
"  Gen.  A.  A.  HUMPHREYS,  Chief  of  Engineers,  U.  S.  Army : 

"  GENERAI/— I  have  the  honor  to  submit  to  you,  in  the  following  pages,  the  results  of  my  in- 
vestigations in  meteorology  and  hypeometry,  made  with  the  view  of  ascertaining  how  far  the 
barometer  can  be  used  as  a  reliable  instrument  for  determining  altitudes  on  extended  lines  of 
survey  and  reconnaissances.  These  investigations  have  occupied  the  leisure  permitted  me  from 
my  professional  duties  during  the  last  ten  years,  and  I  hope  the  results  will  be  deemed  of  suffi- 
cient value  to  have  a  place  assigned  them  among  the  printed  professional  papers  of  the  United 
States  Corps  of  Engineers.  Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"R.  S.  WILLIAMSON, 
"Bvt  Lt.-Col.  U.  8.  A.,  Major  Corps  of  U.  S.  Engineers." 

TUNNER  (P.)     A  Treatise  on  Roll-Turning  for  the  Manufacture  of 
Iron.     By  PETER  TUNNER.    Translated  and  adapted.     By  JOHN  B. 
PEARSE,  of  the  Pennsylvania  Steel  Works.     With  numerous  engrav- 
ings and  wood-cuts,  i  vol.,  8vo.,  with  i  vol.  folio  of  plates.  Cloth.  $10 
SHAFFNER  (T.  P.)  Telegraph  Manual.     A  Complete  History  and 
Description  of  the  Semaphoric,  Electric,  and  Magnetic  Telegraphs 
of  Europe,   Asia,   and  Africa,  with   625   illustrations.     By  TAL.   P. 
SHAFFNER,  of  Kentucky.    New  edition,    i  vol.,  8vo.    Cloth.     850  pp. 
$6. 50. 

MINIFIE  (WM.)  Mechanical  Drawing.     A  Text-Book  of  Geomet- 
rical Drawing  for  the  use  of  Mechanics  and  Schools,  in  which 
the  Definitions  and  Rules  of  Geometry  are  familiarly  explained  ;  the 
Practical  Problems  are  arranged,  from  the  most  simple  to  the  more 
complex,  and  in  their  description  technicalities  are  avoided  as  much 
as  possible.     With   illustrations  for  Drawing   Plans,   Sections,   and 
Elevations  of  Buildings  and  Machinery ;  an  Introduction  to  Isomet- 
rical   Drawing,  and  an  Essay  on  Linear  Perspective  and  Shadows. 
Illustrated  with  over  200  diagrams  engraved  on   steel.      By  WM 
MINIFIE,  Architect.     Seventh  edition.     With  an  Appendix  on  the 
Theory  and  Application  of  Colors,      i  vol. ,  8vo.     Cloth.     $4. 
••  It  is  the  best  work  on  Drawing  that  we  have  ever  seen,  and  is  especially  a  text-book  of  Geo- 
metrical Drawing  for  the  use  of  Mechanics  and  Schools.    No  young  Mechanic,  such  as  a  Ma- 
chinist, Engineer,  Cabinet-Maker,  Millwright,  or  Carpenter  should  be  without  it."— Scientific 
American. 

"  One  of  the  most  comprehensive  works  of  the  kind  ever  published,  and  cannot  but  possess 
great  value  to  builders.  The  style  is  at  once  elegant  and  substantial."— Pennsylvania  Inquirer. 
"  Whatever  is  said  is  rendered  perfectly  intelligible  by  remarkably  well-executed  diagrams  OR 
gteel,  leaving  nothing  for  mere  vague  supposition ;  and  the  addition  of  an  introduction  to  iso- 
metrical  drawing,  linear  perspective,  and  the  projection  of  shadows,  winding  up  with  a  useful 
index  to  technical  terms."—  Glasgow  Mechanics'  Journal. 

J^~  The  British  P«»vernment  has  authorized  the  use  of  this  book  in  their  schools  of  art  at 
Somerset  House,  London,  and  throughout  the  kingdom. 

MINIFIE  (WM.)  Geometrical  Drawing.    Abridged  from  the  octavo 
edition,  for  the  use  of  Schools.     Illustrated  with  48  steel  plates. 
Fifth  edition,  i  vol.,  I2mo.     Half  roan.     $1.50. 

"It  is  well  adapted  as  a  text-book  of  drawing  tc  be  used  in  our  High  Schools  and  Academies 
wbere  th.s  useful  branch  of  the  fine  arts  has  b«e»  hitherto  too  much  neglected."—- Boston  Journcu, 


26  D.  Van  Nostrantfs  Publications. 

PEIRCE'S  SYSTEM  OF  ANALYTIC  MECHANICS.  Physical 
and  Celestial  Mechanics,  by  BENJAMIN  PEIRCE,  Perkins  Professor 
of  Astronomy  and  Mathematics  in  Harvard  University,  and  Con- 
sulting Astronomer  of  the  American  Ephemeris  and  Nautical  Al- 
manac. Developed  in  four  systems  of  Analytic  Mechanics,  Celestial 
Mechanics,  Potential  Physics,  and  Analytic  Morphology.  I  vol., 
4to.  Cloth.  $10. 


ILLMORE.  Practical  Treatise  on  Limes,  Hydraulic  Cements,  and 
v-T  Mortars.  Papers  on  Practical  Engineering,  U.  S.  Engineer  De- 
partment, No.  9,  containing  Reports  of  numerous  experiments  con- 
ducted in  New  York  City,  during  the  years  1858  to  1861,  inclusive. 
By  Q.  A.  GILLMORE,  Brig.  -General  U.  S.  Volunteers,  and  Major  U. 
S.  Corps  of  Engineers.  With  numerous  illustrations.  One  volume, 
octavo.  Cloth.  $4. 

ROGERS  (H.   D.)     Geology  of  Pennsylvania.     A  complete  Scien- 
tific Treatise  on  the  Coal  Formations.     By  HENRY  D.  ROGERS, 
Geologist.     3  vols.,  4to.,  plates  and  maps.     Boards.     $30.00. 

BURGH  (N.  P.)  Modern  Marine  Engineering,  applied  to  Paddle 
and  Screw  Propulsion.  Consisting  of  36  colored  plates,  259 
Practical  Woodcut  Illustrations,  and  403  pages  of  Descriptive  Matter, 
the  whole  being  an  exposition  of  the  present  practice  of  the  follow- 
ing firms  :  Messrs.  J.  Penn  &  Sons  ;  Messrs.  Maudslay,  Sons,  & 
Field  ;  Messrs.  James  Watt  &  Co.  ;  Messrs.  J.  &  G.  Rennie  ;  Messrs. 
R.  Napier  &  Sons  ;  Messrs.  J.  &  W.  Dudgeon  ;  Messrs.  Ravenhill 
&  Hodgson  ;  Messrs.  Humphreys  &  Tenant  ;  Mr.  J.  T.  Spencer, 
and  Messrs.  Forrester  &  Co.  By  N.  P.  BURGH,  Engineer.  In  one 
thick  vol.,  4to.  Cloth.  $25.00.  Half  morocco.  $30.00. 

KING.     Lessons  and  Practical  Notes  on  Steam,  the  Steam-Engine, 
Propellers,  &c.,  &c.,  for  Young  Marine  Engineers,   Students, 
and  others.     By  the  late  W.   R.   KING,  U.  S.  N.     Revised  by  Chief- 
Engineer  J.  W.  KING,  U.  S.  Navy.   Twelfth  edition,  enlarged.     8vo. 
Cloth.     $2. 

WARD.     Steam  for  the  Million.     A  Popular  Treatise  on  Steam  and 
its  Application  to  the  Useful  Arts,  especially  to  Navigation.     By 
J.  H.  WARD,  Commander  U.  S.  Navy.     New  and  revised  edition. 
i  vol.,  8vo.     Cloth.     $i. 

WALKER.     Screw  Propulsion.      Notes  on  Screw  Propulsion,   its 
Rise  and  History.     By  Capt.  W.   H.  WALKER,  U.  S.  Navy.      I 
vol.,  8vo.     Cloth.     75  cents. 

THE  STEAM-ENGINE  INDICATOR,  ,and  the  Improved  Mano- 
meter Steam  and  Vacuum  Gauges  r  Their  Utility  and  Application. 
By  PAUL  STILLMAN.     New  edition,     i  vol.,  I2mo.     Flexible  cloth. 
$i. 

T  SHERWOOD.     Engineering  Precedents  for  Steam  Machinery.     Ar- 
J.     ranged  in  the  most  practical  and  useful  manner  for  Engineers.     By 

B.  F.  ISHERWOOD,  Civil  Engineer  U.  S.  Navy.     With  illustration* 

Two  volumes  in  one.     8vo.     Cloth.     $2.50. 


Scientific  Books.  2» 

POOR'S  METHOD  OF  COMPARING  THE  LINES  AND 
^  DRAUGHTING  VESSELS  PROPELLED  BY  SAIL  OR 
STEAM,  including  a  Chapter  on  Laying  off  on  the  Mould-Loft 
Floor.  By  SAMUEL  M.  POOK,  Naval  Constructor.  i  vol.,  8vo. 
With  illustrations.  Cloth.  $5. 

SWEET  (S.  H.)  Special  Report  on  Coal;  showing  its  Distribution, 
Classification  and  Cost  delivered  over  different  routes  to  various 
points  in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  the  principal  cities  on  the 
Atlantic  Coast.  By  S.  H.  SWEET.  With  maps,  i  vol.,  8vo.  Cloth. 
$3- 

A  LEXANDER  (J.   H.)     Universal  Dictionary  of  Weights  and  Meas- 
**•     ures,  Ancient  and  Modern,  reduced  to  the  standards  of  the  United 
States  of  America.     By  J.    H.  ALEXANDER.     New  edition,      i  vol.. 
8vo.     Cloth.     $3.50. 

"  As  a  standard  work  of  reference  this  book  should  be  in  every  library ;  it  is  cue  which  we 
have  long  wanted,  and  it  will  save  us  much  trouble  and  research."— Scientijtc  American, 

CRAIG  (B.  F. )     Weights  and  Measures.     An  Account  of  the  Deci- 
mal System,  with  Tables  of  Conversion  for  Commercial  and  Scien- 
tific Uses.     By  B.  F.  CRAIG,   M.  D.     i  vol.,  square  3  2 mo.     Limp 

cloth.      50  cents. 

"  The  most  lucid,  accurate,  and  useful  of  all  the  hand-books  on  this  subject  that  we  have  yex 
Been.  It  gives  forty-seven  tables  of  comparison  between  the  English  and  French  denominations 
of  length,  area,  capacity,  weight,  and  the  centigrade  and  Fahrenheit  thermometers,  with  clear 
instructions  how  to  use  them ;  and  to  this  practical  portion,  which  helps  to  make  the  transition 
os  easy  as  possible,  is  prefixed  a  scientific  explanation  of  the  errors  in  the  metric  system,  and 
k<ow  they  may  be  corrected  in  the  laboratory." — Nation. 

BAUERMAN.  Treatise  on  the  Metallurgy  of  Iron,  containing 
outlines  of  the  History  of  Iron  manufacture,  methods  of  Assay, 
and  analysis  of  Iron  Ores,  processes  of  manufacture  of  Iron  and 
Steel,  etc.,  etc.  By  H.  BAUERMAN.  First  American  edition.  Re- 
vised and  enlarged,  with  an  appendix  on  the  Martin  Process  for 
making  Steel,  from  the  report  of  Abram  S.  Hewitt.  Illustrated 
with  numerous  wood  engravings.  I2mo.  Cloth.  $2.50. 

44  This  is  an  important  addition  to  the  stock  of  technical  works  published  in  this  country.  It 
embodies  the  latest  facts,  discoveries,  and  processes  connected  with  the  manufacture  of  iro» 
and  steel,  and  should  be  in  the  hands  of  every  person  interested  in  the  subject,  as  well  as  in  all 
technical  and  scientific  libraries."— Scientific  American. 

HARRISON.     Mechanic's  Tool  Book,  with  practical  rules  and  sug- 
gestions, for  the  use  of  Machinists,  Iron  Workers,  and  others. 
By  W.   B.   HARRISON,  associate  editor  of  the  "American  Artisan/' 
Illustrated  with  44  engravings.      I2mo.     Cloth.     $2.50. 

"  This  work  is  specially  adapted  to  meet  the  wants  of  Machinists  and  workers  in  iron  gener- 
ally. It  is  made  up  of  the  work-day  experience  of  an  intelligent  and  ingenious  mechanic,  who 
had  the  faculty  of  adapting  tools  to  various  purposes.  The  practicability  of  his  pl»n8  an4  sug- 
gestions are  made  apparent  even  to  the  unpractised  eye  by  a  series  of  well-executed  wo«d  ««• 
pravings."— Philadelphia  Inquirer. 


28  D.  Van  Nbstrand's  Publications. 

PLYMPTON.  The  Blow-Pipe  :  A  System  of  Instruction  in  its  prac- 
tical use,  being  a  graduated  course  of  Analysis  for  the  use  of 
students,  and  all  those  engaged  in  the  Examination  of  Metallic 
Combinations.  Second  edition,  with  an  appendix  and  a  copious 
index.  By  GEORGE  W.  PLYMPTON,  of  the  Polytechnic  Institute, 
Brooklyn.  12  mo.  Cloth.  $2. 

"  This  manual  probably  has  no  superior  in  the  English  language  as  a  text-book  for  beginners, 
or  as  a  guide  to  the  student  working  without  a  teacher.  To  the  latter  many  illustrations  of  the 
utensils  and  apparatus  required  in  using  the  blow-pipe,  as  well  as  the  fully  illustrated  descrip- 
tion of  the  blow-pipe  flame,  will  be  especially  serviceable." — New  York  Teacher. 

NUGENT.     Treatise  on  Optics  :  or,  Light  and  Sight,  theoretically 
and  practically  treated  ;  with  the  application  to  Fine  Art  and  In- 
dustrial Pursuits.     By  E.   NUGENT.     With  one  hundred  and  three 
illustrations.      I2mo.     Cloth.     $2. 

"  This  book  is  of  a  practical  rather  than  a  theoretical  kind,  and  is  designed  to  afford  accurate 
and  complete  information  to  all  interested  in  applications  of  the  science." — Bound  Table. 

O ILVERSMITH  (Julius).     A  Practical  Hand-Book  for  Miners,  Met- 
v^     allurgists,  and  Assayers,  comprising  the  most  recent  improvements 

in  the  disintegration,  amalgamation,  smelting,   and  parting  of  the 

Precious  Ores,  with  a  Comprehensive  Digest  of  the  Mining  Laws. 

Greatly  augmented,  revised,  and  corrected.     By  JULIUS  SILVERSMITH. 

Fourth  edition.    Profusely  illustrated,     i  vol.,  12 mo.    Cloth.    $3. 

T  ARRABEE'S  CIPHER  AND  SECRET   LETTER  AND  TELE- 
*-*     GRAPHIC  CODE.     By  C.  S.  LARRABEE.     i8mo.     Cloth.     $i. 

BRUNNOW.      Spherical    Astronomy.     By   F.    BRTJNNOW,    Ph.    Dr. 
Translated  by  the  Author  from  the  Second  German  edition,     i 
vol.,  8vo.     Cloth.     $6.50. 

/^HAUVENET  (Prof.  Wm.)     New  method  of  Correcting  Lunar  Dis- 
^— '     tances,  and  Improved  Method  of  Finding  the  Error  and  Rate  of  a 

Chronometer,  by  equal  altitudes.     By  WM.  CHAUVENET,  LL.D.     i 

vol.,  8vo.     Cloth.     $2. 

DOPE.    Modern  Practice  of  the  Electric  Telegraph.    A  Handbook  for 

•*       Electricians  and  Operators.     By  FRANK  L.  POPE.     Fourth  edition. 

Revised  and  enlarged,  and  fully  illustrated.     8vo.     Cloth.     $2. 

GAS  WORKS  OF  LONDON.    By  ZERAH  COLBURN.    I2mo.    Boards. 
60  cents. 

HEWSON.     Principles   and   Practice  of  Embanking   Lands  from 
River  Floods,  as  applied  to  the  Levees  of  the  Mississippi.     By 
WILLIAM  HEWSON,  Civil  Engineer,     i  vol.,  8vo.     Cloth.     $2. 

"  This  is  a  valuable  treatise  on  the  principles  and  practice  of  embanking  lands  from  river 
loods,  as  applied  to  Levees  of  the  Mississippi,  by  a  highly  intelligent  and  experienced  engineer. 
The  author  says  it  is  a  first  attempt  to  reduce  to  order  and  to  rule  the  design,  execution,  and 
measurement  of  the  Levees  of  the  Mississippi.  It  is  a  moat  ueeiul  and  needov.  contribution  to 
•.ientific  literature."— Philadelphia  2&vening  Journal. 


Scientific  Books.  29 

^EISBACH'S  MECHANICS.  New  and  revised  edition.  A  Manual 
of  the  Mechanics  of  Engineering,  and  of  the  Construction  of  Ma- 
chines. By  JULIUS  WEISBACH,  PH.  D.  Translated  from  the  fourth 
augmented  and  improved  German  edition,  by  ECKLEY  B.  COXE,  A.  M., 
Mining  Engineer.  Vol.  I. — Theoretical  Mechanics,  i  vol.  8vo, 
i, i co  pages,  and  902  wood-cut  illustrations,  printed  from  electrotype 
copies  of  those  of  the  best  German  edition.  $10. 

ABSTRACT  OF  CONTENTS. — Introduction  to  the  Calculus — The  Gen- 
eral Principles  of  Mechanics — Phoronomics,  or  the  Purely  Mathe- 
matical Theory  of  Motion — Mechanics,  or  the  General  Physical 
Theory  of  Motion — Statics  of  Rigid  Bodies — The  Application  oi 
Statics  to  Elasticity  and  Strength — Dynamics  of  Rigid  Bodies — Statics 
of  Fluids — Dynamics  of  Fluids — The  Theory  of  Oscillation,  etc. 

"The  present  edition  is  an  entirely  new  work,  greatly  extended  and  rery  much  improved.  It  forms  a 
text-book  which  must  find  its  way  into  the  hands,  not  only  of  every  student,  but  of  every  engineer  who 
desires  to  refresh  his  memory  or  acquire  clear  ideas  on  doubtful  pointa,"— The  Technologist. 

HUNT  (R.  M.)    Designs  for  the  Gateways  of  the  Southern  Entrances 
to  the  Central  Park.     By  RICHARD  M.  HUNT.     With  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  designs,     i  vol. ,  4to.     Illustrated.     Cloth.     $5. 

SILVER   DISTRICTS   OF  NEVADA.      8vo.,   with   map.     Paper. 
35  cents. 

McCORMICK  (R.  C.)      Arizona  :    Its   Resources  and   Prospects. 
By  Hon.  R.  C.  McCoRMiCK.   With  map.    8vo.    Paper.    25  cents, 

CIMM'S  LEVELLING.  A  Treatise  on  the  Principles  and  Practice  ot 
°  Levelling,  showing  its  application  to  purposes  of  Railway  Engineer- 
ing and  the  Construction  of  Roads,  &c.  By  FREDERICK  W.  SIMMS, 
C.  E.  From  the  fifth  London  edition,  revised  and  corrected,  with 
the  addition  of  Mr.  Law's  Practical  Examples  for  Setting  Out  Rail- 
way Curves.  Illustrated  with  three  lithographic  plates  and  numerous 
wood-cuts.  8vo.  Cloth.  $2.50. 

PALMER.     Antarctic  Mariners'  Song.     By  JAMES  CROXALL  PALMER, 
U.  S.  N.     Illustrated.     Cloth,  gilt,  bevelled  boards.     $3. 

"  The  poem  is  founded  upon  and  narrates  the  episodes  of  the  exploring  expedition  of  a  small 
Wiling  vessel,  the  4  Flying  Fish,'  in  company  with  the  '  Peacock,'  in  the  South  Seas,  in  1838- 
42.  The  '  Flying  Fish'  was  too  small  to  be  safe  or  comfortable  in  that  Antarctic  region,  al- 
though we  find  in  the  poem  but  little  of  complaint  or  murmuring  at  the  hardships  the  sailor* 
were  compelled  to  endure."— Athenaeum. 

FRENCH'S   ETHICS.     Practical  Ethics      By  Rev.  J.  W.   FRENCH, 

D.  D.,  Professor  of  Ethics,  U.  S.  Military  Academy.  Prepared  foi 

the  UKC  of  Students  in  the  Military  Academy,     i  vol.  8vo.     Cloth. 
$4.50, 


80  D.  Van  Nbstrand's  Publications. 

A  UCHINCLOSS.  Application  of  the  Slide  Valve  and  Link  Motion 
**•  to  Stationary,  Portable,  Locomotive,  and  Marine  Engines,  with  new 
and  simple  methods  for  proportioning  the  parts.  By  WILLIAM  S. 
AUCHINCLOSS,  Civil  and  Mechanical  Engineer.  Designed  as  a  hand- 
book for  Mechanical  Engineers,  Master  Mechanics,  Draughtsmen,  and 
Students  of  Steam  Engineering.  All  dimensions  of  the  valve  are 
found  with  the  greatest  ease  by  means  of  a  PRINTED  SCALE,  and  propor- 
tions of  the  link  determined  without  the  assistance  of  a  model.  Illus- 
trated by  37  woodcuts  and  21  lithographic  plates,  together  with  a  cop- 
perplate engraving  of  the  Travel  Scale.  I  vol.  8vo.  Cloth.  $3. 

H  UMBER'S  STRAINS  IN  GIRDERS.      A  Handy  Book  for  the 
Calculation  of  Strains  in  Girders  and  Similar  Structures,  and  their 
Strength,  consisting  of  Formulas  and  Corresponding  Diagrams,  with 
numerous  details  for  practical  application.       By  WILLIAM  HUMBER. 
i  vol.      i8mo.     Fully  illustrated.     Cloth.     $2.50. 


ON  THE  POWER  OF  WATER,  as  applied  to  drive  Flour 
Mills,  and  to  give  motion  to  Turbines  and  other  Hydrostatic  En- 
gines. By  JOSEPH  GLYNN,  F.  R.  S.  Third  edition,  revised  and  en- 
larged, with  numerous  illustrations.  1  2  mo.  Cloth.  $1.25. 

THE   KANSAS   CITY  BRIDGE,  with  an  Account  of  the  Regimen 

•*•       of  the  Missouri  River,  and  a  description  of  the  Methods  used  for 

Founding  in   that  River.     By  O.  CHANUTE,  Chief  Engineer,  and 

GEORGE  MORISON,  Assistant  Engineer.     Illustrated  with  five  litho- 

graphic views  and  1  2  plates  of  plans.     4to.     Cloth.     $6. 

HTREATISE   ON   ORE   DEPOSITS.      By  BERNHARD  VON  COTTA, 

J"      Professor  of  Geology  in  the  Royal  School  of  Mines,  Freidberg, 

Saxony.     Translated  from  the  second  German  edition,  by  FREDERICK 

PRIME,  Jr.  ,  Mining  Engineer,  and  revised  by  the  author,  with  numer- 

ous illustrations,     i  vol.     8vo.  Cloth,  $4. 

A  TREATISE  ON  THE  RICHARDS  STEAM-ENGINE  INDICA- 
/"*•  TOR,  with  directions  for  its  use.  By  CHARLES  T.  PORTER. 
Revised,  with  notes  and  large  additions  as  developed  by  American 
Practice,  with  an  Appendix  containing  useful  formulae  and  rules  for 
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T> 
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GENERAL  LIBRARY 
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